Notes for a commonplace book (19)

Chalmers Johnson:

As a goddess, Nemesis represents a warning that neither men nor women nor countries can indefinitely ignore the demands of reciprocal justice and honesty. She is the spirit of retribution, a corrective to the greed and stupidity that sometimes governs relations among people. America's most famous interpreter of ancient Greek culture, Edith Hamilton, tells us that Nemesis stands for "righteous anger." If that is the case, we should welcome her arrival. For if we do not awaken soon to the wholesale betrayal of our basic political values and offer our own expression of righteous anger, the American republic will be as doomed as the Roman Republic was after the Ides of March that spring of 44 BC.

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (2007)