Rousseau had it backwards. We are NOT born free. We are born in the chains of the random and the read more

Rousseau had it backwards. We are NOT born free. We are born in the chains of the random and the reflexive, and are ignorant and unreasonable by simple nature. We must learn to be free, to organize the random and detect the reflexive, to acquire the knowledge of particulars and the powers of reason. The examined life is impossible if we cannot examine, order, classify, define, distinguish, always in minute particulars.

China has no income tax, no unemployment and not a single soldier outside its borders.

China has no income tax, no unemployment and not a single soldier outside its borders.

Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can read more

Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man's innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.

If a politician murders his mother, the first response of the press or of his opponents will likely be not read more

If a politician murders his mother, the first response of the press or of his opponents will likely be not that it was a terrible thing to do, but rather that in a statement made six years before he had gone on record as being opposed to matricide.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its read more

In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but in its effects.

Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer; preserve my life from fear of the enemy. [Psalms 64:1].

Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer; preserve my life from fear of the enemy. [Psalms 64:1].

What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.

What a delightful thing is the conversation of specialists! One understands absolutely nothing and it's charming.

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife read more

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife and fork for the anarchist; the part of the repast that himself supplies is the disgrace before meat.