[Mr. Mojo]

POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

- AB

[cloud8]

Ambrose Bierce was a skeptic's skeptic. He makes H.L. "Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey-cage" Menken look like a lightweight. Very clever piece.

"...the Koran. A book which the Mohammedans foolishly believe to have been written by divine inspiration, but which Christians know to be a wicked imposture, contradictory to the Holy Scriptures."

Bierce didn't need 9/11 to figure that out.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Leftist pap dressed like Arthurian prose, but pap just the same. Why post it other than to further its ideas?

[AaronInCarolina]

Ambrose Bierce sounds to me like someone completely consumed with self-perception of an over-inflated sense of intellect. He seems to go out of his way to make each and every utterance sound more intellectual than the one before. (Intellectual overkill, if you will).

This interview comes off sounding like a series of one-liners prepared in advance in response to a series of questions served up like softballs.

The only people who talk like this do it with the uncontrollable desire to talk over the heads of everyone else. I refuse to believe that it is because he can't talk in a more casual manner, he just gets a buzz from the notion that he confuses most of his listeners. In my opinion, that is a poor reflection on him.

[Cicero]

Ambrose Bierce was an interesting writer, but hardly a reliable moral guide or political commentator.

[AaronInCarolina]

BIERCE: And I blame the government for it. A government that does not protect life is a flat failure, no matter what else it may do. Life being almost universally regarded as the most precious possession, its security is the first and highest essential -- not the life of him who takes life, but the life which is exposed defenseless to his hateful hand.

For someone who expends so much effort trying to come off as intellectual, Bierce possesses a fundamental lack of understanding regard the "American Experience". He doesn't understand the concept that Patrick Henry so boldly stated with "Give me liberty, or give me death". This epitomizes American history. Bierce seems to think that Americans would rather cry "Give me LIFE, no matter what". What Americans believe is the government's most important responsibility toward its citizens is to provide liberty, not security. Maybe where he is from, security is the most precious commodity, but at least for now ( and hopefully for a long time) we choose to value liberty over security.