political-philosophy

I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. _ Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.

It's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.

Believing, as they now did, that the heavenly powers took part in human affairs, they became so much absorbed in the cultivation of religion and so deeply imbued with the sense of their religious duties, that the sanctity of an oath had more power to control their lives than the fear of punishment for lawbreaking.

Cathy smiled back __ules were meant to be broken.___on__ disagree,_ Oversteegen replied immediately. __ndeed they are. Providin_, however, that the one breakin_ the rules is willin_ t_ pay the price for it, and the price gets charged in full. Which you were, Lady Catharine. I saluted you for it then__t the family dinner table that night, in fact. My mother was infinitely more indisposed thereafter; tottered back t_ her bed cursin_ me for an ingrate. My father was none too pleased either. I salute you for it, again. Otherwise, breakin_ rules becomes the province of brats instead of heroes. Fastest way I can think t_ turn serious political affairs int_ a playpen. A civilized society needs a conscience, and conscience can__ be developed without martyrs__eal ones__gainst which a nation can measure its crimes and sins.

A politician is a man in his natural state

All of the wars in the world are fueled by power struggles either at individual, national or international levels

Politicians are a higher breed of men. They know that this world is ruthless and that they must live accordingly to cope with it

Your right of religious freedom ends where my right of religious abstinence begins...

Prolific irony - For 8 years, the finger on the button that could end the world belonged to a president who couldn't pronounce the word "nuclear.

Albeit nurtured in democracy, And liking best that state republican Where every man is Kinglike and no manIs crowned above his fellows, yet I see,Spite of this modern fret for Liberty, Better the rule of One, whom all obey, Than to let clamorous demagogues betrayOur freedom with the kiss of anarchy.Wherefore I love them not whose hands profane Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street For no right cause, beneath whose ignorant reignArts, Culture, Reverence, Honor, all things fade, Save Treason and the dagger of her trade, Or Murder with his silent bloody fee.

The job facing American voters_ in the days and years to come is to determine which hearts, minds and souls command those qualities best suited to unify a country rather than further divide it, to heal the wounds of a nation as opposed to aggravate its injuries, and to secure for the next generation a legacy of choices based on informed awareness rather than one of reactions based on unknowing fear.

...our great modern error is the belief that we must invariably give up one thing in order to have another. But it is possible, for instance, to find comfort, pleasure, and beauty in food, clothing, and shelter. It is possible to find pleasure and beauty and even "recreation" in work. It is possible to have farms that do not waste and poison the natural world.

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.

As history has also shown, especially in the twentieth century, one of the first things an ideologue will do after achieving absolute power is kill.

__n top of the government-hierarchy you need an unpolluted group of scientists to give a nation the best direction.

Government is a system of morality developed by philosophers and refined by mercenaries.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem. It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens; and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite public agents to corruption, plunder and waste.