This painting guards my couch against would-be tyrants. (Cropped as a lazy way of fixing slight perspective issues.)

For those who don't quite understand the quote, or feel it's unsupported, consider the basic rule of government, and practically the definition of government: those who attempt to overthrow the government are criminals, legally punishable by that same government. As soon as a government takes power, it protects itself, it uses its own new powers (legislative, executive, and judicial) to stay in power. Our so-called founding fathers may have called for revolution in the face of oppression even by their own new government, and the US war of independence itself may prove that revolutionaries, if successful, avoid prosecution by the government (and if they fail, see rule number one) ... but I believe this rule holds true. A government cannot be a government unless it is oppressive.