The bringing-about of order is the first and fundamental task of government. We accept limits on our rights for the sake of a larger social compact all the time. – Jon Meacham
History tells us that America does best when the private sector is energetic and entrepreneurial and the government is attentive and engaged. Who among us, really, would, looking back, wish to edit out either sphere at the entire expense of the other? – Jon Meacham
Once the cry and the cause of a generation of progressives to make America safer, fairer and cleaner, regulation is now a dirty word in our politics. Even Democrats are quick to talk about cutting regulations Republicans hate them with – how to put it? – evangelical fervor. – Jon Meacham
The problem for those who assert biblical authority in support of traditional definitions of marriage is that one could, with equal validity, assert that the lending of money or certain kinds of haircuts are forbidden by God, or that slavery and the subjugation of women are authorized by the Lord. – Jon Meacham