Oh, Patrick, I do believe you are on to something.
I can't believe I have had Nightfall in the back of my mind all along, yet when I read the bit about Menzies, I didn't have a clue what that was all about. Ooooh, this is getting good!!
"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution" - Daniel Webster