Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Some Democracy Quotes this Month

Wrote Mr. Mark Hackard over at Alternative Right:

Terror and tyranny are inevitable byproducts of democracy, the one legitimate form of rule permitted by Washington to the tribes of humanity.

[...]

Tyranny is not democracy’s tragic demise, but the logical consummation of its progress.
Wrote Mr. Charles Coulombe over at Taki's Magazine:
Until November we will endure the quadrennial ritual of seeing men of questionable ability and ethics accuse each other of having questionable ability and ethics.
Wrote Mr. Ben O'Neill over at Mises Daily:
[W]hen people talk about the importance of democracy, it is never democracy as it has ever actually functioned, with the politicians that have actually been elected, and the policies that have actually been implemented. It is always democracy as people imagine it will operate once they succeed in electing "the right people" — by which they mean, people who agree almost completely with their own views, and who are consistent and incorruptible in their implementation of the resulting policies.
Wrote Mr. Pat Buchanan over at The American Conservative:
Does McFaul believe democracy is a universally superior system of government? Yet our own founding fathers detested one-man, one-vote democracy. Democracy does not even get a mention in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the Federalist Papers.

The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, believed society should be ruled by a “natural aristocracy” of “virtue and talent.”

If the promotion of democracy is a mission of our diplomats, are we to subvert the monarchies of Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia?
Also, Mr. Keith Preston pondered modern rights thinking over at Alternative Right early this month.

Lew Rockwell on Speaker Gingrich

Lew Rockwell believes a President Gingrich would be worse than Obama:



Monday, January 30, 2012

How to Fund a Year

Going through last year to see how it could be funded:






H/T: Dr. Walter Block, the LRC Blog

Politicians with a Clue?

Over at Taki's Magazine, John Derbyshire answers the question whether politicians have a clue.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mencken Passing 56

56 years ago today, H.L. Mencken passed away.

Previously this month, Mr. Douglas French quoted Mencken at the Mises Economics Blog:

His business is never what it pretends to be. Ostensibly he is an altruist devoted whole-heartedly to the service of his fellow-men, and so abjectly public-spirited that his private interest is nothing to him. Actually he is a sturdy rogue whose principal, and often sole aim in life is to butter his parsnips. His technical equipment consists simply of an armamentarium of deceits. It is his business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying he will hold it by lying; if lying peters out he will try to hold it by embracing new truths.
And also, slightly in a Mencken spirit:
What makes democracy work so well? Ignorance. The majority of voters don’t know anything about the issues and of course have no idea what candidates will do once in office. Ecologist Iain Couzin at Princeton figures this makes democracy work great.

More on the TSA

Judge Andrew Napolitano follows up:



Castro on the Political Circus

Over at The State Column, Fidel Castro is quoted:

The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is – and I mean this seriously – the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been.


H/T: Laurence Vance, the LRC Blog

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Voting Required to Be Human?

This week I overheard a discussion on monarchy vs. republic. It was claimed in this discussion that since the royals do not have surnames and do not have the right vote, they are not allowed to be human.

What is one to say?

A Discussion on Democracy

Over at AltRight Radio, Richard Spencer and Jonathan Bowden have a talk about democracy for about an hour.

Empire, Gingrich, and the Moon

Those United States are struggling with a costly empire, and “conservative” presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wants to expand the empire into space.

Jon Stewart's take:

Friday, January 27, 2012

Wilhelm II, German Emperor

153 years ago today, then future Kaiser Wilhelm II was born.



Mozart Geboren

A quarter of a millennium and six years ago today, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born.