" Free states characteristically attempt to restrain aggressive tyrannies through rational negotiation. Aggressive tyrannies understand the essential absurdity of such negation, but nonetheless participate in it with enthusiasm, knowing that it will camouflage their intentions and win them time.

Negotiating with wronged people, one turns the subject of conversation from the correction of past wrongs to the prevention of future wrongs. "

― Robert Grudin , Time and the Art of Living