|
2006 May 12
|
"Opposition, n. In politics the party that prevents the government
from running amuck by hamstringing it." |
"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." |
"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed
of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics
or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself.
Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.
If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there
at all." |
|
2006 May 11
|
"A true party-man hates and despises candour." |
"The Party System was founded
on one national notion of fair play.
It was the notion that folly and futility
should be fairly divided between both sides." |
"In general, the art of government
consists in taking as much money as possible
from one party of the citizens to give to the other." |
|
2006 May 10
|
"Once the government becomes the supplier of people's needs, there is no limit to the needs that will be claimed as a basic right." |
"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. Regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would sacrifice freedom for security have embarked on this downward path. Plutarch warned, 'The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.'" |
"If you have ever seen a four-year-old
trying to lord it over a two-year-old,
then you know what the basic problem
of human nature is and why government
keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive." |
|
2006 May 09
|
"The two highest achievements of the human mind
are the twin concepts of "loyalty" and "duty".
Whenever these twin concepts fall into disrepute,
get out of there fast! You may possibly save yourself,
but it is too late to save that society. It is doomed." |
"There have existed,
in every age and every country,
two distinct orders of men --
the lovers of freedom and
the devoted advocates of power." |
"Parties are... censors of the conduct of each other, and useful watchmen for the public.
Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties:
1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.
2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise, depository of the public interests.
In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves.
Call them, therefore,... Whigs and Tories, Republicans and Federalists, Aristocrats and Democrats, or by whatever name you please, they are the same parties still, and pursue the same object." |
|
2006 May 08
|
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and
Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes.
The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being
corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his
revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his
tradition. Thus we have two great types -- the advanced person who
rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins.
He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new
blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of
immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or
mutual check, in our Constitution." |
"True, it is evil that a single man should crush the herd,
but see not there the worse form of slavery,
which is when the herd crushes out the man." |
"Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion -- and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion ... while Truth again reverts to a new minority." |
|
|
|
