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    Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

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If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.

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  14  /  14  

The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when read more

The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.

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  9  /  15  

...this is precisely the purpose of censorship- not only to block unwanted views, but to keep people who are unhappy read more

...this is precisely the purpose of censorship- not only to block unwanted views, but to keep people who are unhappy from knowing how many millions of others share their unhappiness; to keep the dormant opposition from awakening to its own developing strength.

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In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the read more

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

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Men resort to talking only when they haven't the power to enforce their convictions upon others.

Men resort to talking only when they haven't the power to enforce their convictions upon others.

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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.

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Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it's officially denied.

Nobody believes a rumor here in Washington until it's officially denied.

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Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it.

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No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: "But what would read more

No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: "But what would you replace it with?" When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?

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