The sovereignty of the law must supersede the sovereignty of the ruler. The law is a higher authority than the ruler because it proceeds from a higher authority. Democracies inevitably decline when they cease to respect this higher authority and place the interests of any one group above the common good. In so doing, they ultimately destroy their middle classes. Clashes between the envious and the contemptuous will soon level such a state.
Community depends upon friendship.
The continued existence of a substantial middle class in America is vital to the preservation of our form of government. Every assault upon the middle class threatens to undermine the integrity of that government. The most obvious assault upon the middle class is our confiscatory income tax. The progressive income tax was one of Karl Marx's goals, and he supported it specifically to impoverish the middle class, thereby polarizing society and promoting class warfare. If we are to retain our freedom, we must protect this beleaguered middle class from further encroachment.