[2]
“All significant concepts of the modern theory of the state are secularized theological concepts not only because of their historical development - in which they were transferred from theology to the theory of the state, whereby, for example, the omnipotent god became the omnipotent lawgiver - but also because of their systematic structure, the recognition of which is necessary for a sociological consideration of these concepts. The exception in jurisprudence is analogous to the miracle in theology. Only by being aware of this analogy can we appreciate the manner in which the philosophical ideas of the state developed in the last centuries.”
“The exception is more interesting than the rule. The rule proves nothing; the exception proves everything. In the exception the power of real life breaks through the crust of a mechanism that has become torpid by repetition.”
“Sovereign is he who decides on the exception.”
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignity (also known as the "Crown Jurist of German National Socialism, also known as Nazism)
WB: If you want to concoct a philosophical theory of extrajudicial killing, Carl Schmitt is Mr Ground Zero. Schmitt was just the kind of chap who could have written a wonderful 16 page memo explaining extra-judicial killing under Presidential authority. In fact, for Hitler, that is apparently precisely what he did.
The orginal image was "The Convict" by George Grosz. George Grosz was an activist/artist of the Berlin Dada movement. One who took great issue with the kind of thinking evidenced above.