Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend read more

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this read more

I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.

...the ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but read more

...the ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs.

Politics is the art of the possible.

Politics is the art of the possible.

If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic read more

If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic problem of human nature is -- and why government keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive.

Where does virgin wool come from? The sheep that runs the fastest.

Where does virgin wool come from? The sheep that runs the fastest.

The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us read more

The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny.

The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are read more

The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.

Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.

Republicans are men of narrow vision, who are afraid of the future.