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.
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What is possible is our highest duty.
What is possible is our highest duty.
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of governmental power.
The object and practice of liberty lies in the limitation of governmental power.
I wonder how many of the people who profess to believe in the leveling ideas of collectivism and egalitarianism really read more
I wonder how many of the people who profess to believe in the leveling ideas of collectivism and egalitarianism really just believe that they themselves are good for nothing. I mean, how many leftists are animated by a quite reasonable self-loathing? In their hearts they know that they are not going to become scholars or inventors or industrialists or even ordinary good kind people. So they need a way to achieve that smugness for which the left is so justifiably famous. They need a way to achieve self-esteem without merit. Well, there is politics. In an egalitarian world everything will be controlled by politics, and politics requires no merit.
...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason read more
...the argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. read more
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.
Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States.
Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about the United States.
Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.
Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.
The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like read more
The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal - that you can gather votes like box tops - is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
