Dealing With Putin's Putsch (washingtonpost.com): "Like his Russian forebears, Putin can now claim the title 'Czar of all Czars.' And like past Russian leaders, he is probably smiling inwardly at criticism from the West. He knows his power grab is wildly popular at home with a Russian public that is sick of terrorism, looting and disorder -- and wants the strong leadership Putin so obviously offers."
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True representative government, securing liberty to the people, is only possible in a land where most of the people are freedom-loving, responsible, and moral. If people will not be ruled by God, working through their consciences, then dictatorship becomes inevitable. As Madison wrote, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." The more men become devils, the less they can be entrusted with liberty. Because God will not have His world destroyed by chaos and lawlessness, He gives men taskmasters. The more wicked they become, the crueler are the taskmasters. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," wrote the Apostle Paul. Where the Spirit is not, there is tyranny and oppression. A people cannot be truly enslaved until first they is enslaved by sin.