Sasha posted a comment several days ago saying that “legal ethics is to actual ethics as Madison, Wisconsin is to James Madison: the former is vaguely inspired by the idea of the latter.” (Hat tip to Jack Balkin, who originated this line when commenting on Cass Sunstein’s “Madisonian” First Amendment theory, see 104 Yale L.J. 1935, 1955.) The Legal Ethics Forum takes up the baton with a contest (and a book for a prize): They’re looking for the best entry that starts “Legal ethics is to real ethics as ….” Give them your best.
By the way, while I much appreciate Ann Althouse’s linking to Sasha’s comment, I should note that neither Sasha nor, to my knowledge, Jack Balkin were trying to “dis” Madison, Wisconsin — I’m sure Madison is a fine place, but I don’t think anybody would claim that Madison is somehow especially “Madisonian” in the sense of embodying the views of James Madison. So the answer to Ann’s question, “If we could reanimate James Madison and show him this place, would he really have such a problem with us?,” is “no”; the point is simply that, with no disrespect to the city, neither would Madison the person think that Madison the city is somehow specially connected to him in any way beyond the name. (There’s also an exchange about this between Sasha and Ann in Ann’s comments.)