“Whatever is, is right” . . . This is called following precedents . . . . Thus it is—that, by the comparative blindness of man in each preceding period, the like blindness in each succeeding period is secured: without the trouble or need of reflection,—men, by opulence rendered indolent, and by indolence and self-indulgence doomed to ignorance, follow their leaders—as sheep follow sheep, and geese geese.