The political world is stimulating. It's the most interesting thing you can do. It beats following the dollar.

The political world is stimulating. It's the most interesting thing you can do. It beats following the dollar.

The unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism.

The unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism.

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.

...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This read more

...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This is expressed in the claim, "All men are created equal," which is something very different from the statement, "All men have equal rights and are equal before the law." Anyone who believes in the genetic uniqueness of every individual thereby believes in the conclusion, "No two individuals are created equal.".

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

I don't know exactly what democracy is. But we need more of it.

I don't know exactly what democracy is. But we need more of it.

Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.

Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.

No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If read more

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.