Nicely linked, concise sequence of fine-sounding safeguards, all spelled-out such that Surely! 'a one' would suppose that Actually They Will Be Respected.
(For 'ones' who believe that they have divined levels-of-habitual, predictable corruption--of the sort which nullifies all theoretical 'protections'--maybe not quite so.. Surely! Eh?)
tl;dr? A promise-to-be-Nice/Fair is only as good as the historical, then actual thus reputed record … of the Promiser [aka 'promised Agency'--in that word's generic meaning]

IMO, certain Outrages--either by their frequency or via the magnitude of some: transcend punctilious-analysis of their relationship to any historical Document however brilliantly conceived, originally followed--then allowed to lapse into irrelevance … as seen in daily, egregious deeds: which completely confound the original Principles enshrined within such a Document.
(That Snowden is flawed as are we all, that his actions included ones reckless: of his own future prospects as well as "of the Nation's??"-- bald-face Begs the Existential Questions indubitably raised by the factualness of his material (and the fear engendered by those facts--within perps-of-all-levels, behind their creation and then: Actualization to a ludicrous degree.)

As it indeed-is Christmas, I shall leave any meat in this riposte within the writing-hands of a person manifestly able to parse his avowed theological-Scale--separately from--his analysis of human foibles (even Murican foibles … for those who suspect that (re. 'human') our Empire now accommodates more infra-humans than Humans (and what could be sadder than that?))


A soupçon of Reinhold Niebuhr's observations:

There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.

Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another.

(The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self mastery.)
(Democracies are indeed slow to make war, but once embarked upon a martial venture are equally slow to make peace and reluctant to make a tolerable, rather than a vindictive, peace.)

I think there ought to be a club in which preachers and journalists could come together and have the sentimentalism of the one matched with the cynicism of the other. That ought to bring them pretty close to the truth.

Goodness, armed with power, is corrupted; and pure love without power is destroyed.

The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it.


http://organizations...young_niebuhr.htm


The relationship of Niebuhr’s political analysis to this theology may correctly be compared to relationship of general to special revelation. In the first volume of The Nature and Destiny of Man Niebuhr makes the distinction between truths “that belong to general revelation in the sense that any astute analysis of the human situation must lead to it” and truths dependent upon a “further revelation of the divine.”[43] An astute analysis of the political situation points to an awareness to human limitations. Much of Niebuhr’s writings -- especially The Irony of American History -- can be described as “astute analyses” of factual events and situations that are evident to any observer. The fact that Niebuhr has influenced many political leaders and thinkers both in his lifetime and even *today is a tribute to the “astuteness” of his analysis for which theological presuppositions are not immediately evident or necessary.[44]

General revelation provides a common ground of reflection and experience with readers who do not share his theological presuppositions. General revelation alone, however, is insufficient to provide a complete understanding of life and history because it fails to resolve the incongruities it exposes. Divine revelation accepted by faith, Niebuhr writes, “…completes our ignorance without pretending to possess its certainties as knowledge; and in which contrition mitigates our pride without destroying our hope.”[45]



Bold and ___ added. * including BHO, though I shan't do the searches.



¡Feliz Navidad! O' fellow-toiler within the morass of double-plus-ungood Language Murder, in which daily we swim.