To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as a process but by its hoped for results. This is not only intellectually invalid, it is, in practical terms, blinding oneself in advance to some of the unwanted consequences of the process.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it, and then misapplying the wrong remedies.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain- and since labor is pain in itself- it follows that men read more
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain- and since labor is pain in itself- it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it.When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.
It can not even be said that the State has ever shown any disposition to suppress crime, but only to read more
It can not even be said that the State has ever shown any disposition to suppress crime, but only to safeguard its own monopoly of crime.
It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most read more
It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most vitally from democracy. In a despotism there is no organized opposition which can take over the power when the Administration in office has failed. All the eggs are in one basket. Everything is staked on one coterie of men. When the going is good, they move more quickly and efficiently than democracies, where the opposition has to be persuaded and conciliated. But when they lose, there are no reserves. There are no substitutes on the bench ready to go out on the field and carry the ball. That is why democracies with the habit of party government have outlived all other forms of government in the modern world. They have, as it were, at least two governments always at hand, and when one fails they have the other. They have diversified the risks of mortality, corruption, and stupidity which pervade all human affairs. They have remembered that the most beautifully impressive machine cannot run for very long unless there is available a complete supply of spare parts.
He loved politicians - even Republicans.
He loved politicians - even Republicans.
I'm going to be a vice president very much like George Bush was. He proved to be a very effective read more
I'm going to be a vice president very much like George Bush was. He proved to be a very effective vice president, perhaps the most effective we've had in a couple of hundred years.
Give up control even if it means the employees have to make some mistakes.
Give up control even if it means the employees have to make some mistakes.
I'm proud that I'm a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to read more
I'm proud that I'm a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.
While technically I did not commit a crime, an impeachable offense... these are legalisms, as far as the handling of read more
While technically I did not commit a crime, an impeachable offense... these are legalisms, as far as the handling of this matter is concerned; it was so botched up, I made so many bad judgments. The worst ones, mistakes of the heart, rather than the head. But let me say, a man in that top job - he's got to have a heart, but his head must always rule his heart.
