What the public does is not to express its opinions but to align itself for or against a proposal. If read more

What the public does is not to express its opinions but to align itself for or against a proposal. If that theory is accepted, we must abandon the notion that democratic government can be the direct expression of the will of the people. We must abandon the notion that the people govern. Instead we must adopt the theory that, by their occasional mobilizations as a majority, people support or oppose the individuals who actually govern. We must say that the popular will does not direct continuously but that it intervenes occasionally.

We live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy.

We live in a world in which politics has replaced philosophy.

Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as read more

Individuality is the aim of political liberty. By leaving the citizen as much freedom of action and of being as comports with order and the rights of others, the institutions render him truly a freeman. He is left to pursue his means of happiness in his own manner.

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

The successful politician owes his power to the fact that he moves within the accepted framework of thought, that he read more

The successful politician owes his power to the fact that he moves within the accepted framework of thought, that he thinks and talks conventionally. It would be almost a contradiction in terms for a politician to be a leader in the field of ideas. His task in a democracy is to find out what the opinions held by the largest number are, not to give currency to new opinions which may become the majority view in some distant future.

The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, read more

The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.

It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales!

It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world... but for Wales!

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty read more

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.

To complain of lack of leadership is, in the field of political affairs, the characteristic attitude of all harbingers of read more

To complain of lack of leadership is, in the field of political affairs, the characteristic attitude of all harbingers of dictatorship.