Chapters 13 through 16 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 13: Maxwell Street

Just as the government should not interfere in education and medical care, it cannot pass legislation to make the people happy. Laws are made to be broken and they're even broken by the elected officials who made them. Although the Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan and then got Congress' approval. Since then, the president has assumed that power not from the Constitution or from legislation but rather from custom.

To Liberals, the government has the responsibility of protecting anyone who claims to be powerless. The Socialist vision of society, of taking care of the weak and downtrodden, only serves to curb creativity and human imagination. [Note: Maxwell Street is a famous street in Chicago, Mamet's hometown.]

Chapter 14: R100

British author Nevil Shute was also an...