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The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.
The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.
Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to read more
Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right.
No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty read more
No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
These people have served a longer sentence than some people who have committed murder.
These people have served a longer sentence than some people who have committed murder.
If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.
If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war.
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.
The better part of statesmanship might be to know clearly and precisely what not to do.
The better part of statesmanship might be to know clearly and precisely what not to do.
It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.
It is easy to take liberty for granted when you have never had it taken from you.
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems read more
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems almost within reach. A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. De Tocqueville in his researches into the state of society in France before the revolution was struck by the discovery that "in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event." He is forced to conclude that "the French found their position the more intolerable the better it became.
