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It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their read more
It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.
Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.
Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.
...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made read more
...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made to prevail by force if need be, it is less wasteful to determine which has the stronger support by counting numbers than by fighting. Democracy is the only method of peaceful change that man has yet been discovered.
Don't talk to me about atrocities in war; all war is an atrocity.
Don't talk to me about atrocities in war; all war is an atrocity.
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Watergate showed more strengths in our system than weaknesses... The whole country did take part in quite a genuine sense read more
Watergate showed more strengths in our system than weaknesses... The whole country did take part in quite a genuine sense in passing judgment on Richard Nixon.
...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for read more
...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics.
Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the read more
Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep.
To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as read more
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.
