Things To Keep In Mind As The New Year Approaches - 3 of 20

3. Recall professional ethics. 

When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. 

It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.


Yale historian and Holocaust expert Timothy Snyder wrote: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so." 
Snyder's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (which includes former Secretaries of State), and consults on political situations around the globe. He says: 

Above, #3 of twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.