Blinded by Conceit

"How dare you come into this office and bark at me like some little junkyard dog. I am the President of the United States!"
--President Bennett (Clear and Present Danger)

Judge Nap argues that the modern presidency, and particularly the Obama administration, is "blinded by a conceit that says it can do no wrong." This has been a function of a process that has shifted power from states to the federal government before a permissive Congress. It is also a function of a president who thinks that he knows better than others about how those others should live.

The judge ends by quoting James Madison, who warned liberty is most threatened under the ruse of government beneficence:

"Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."