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Clinton Rossiter

Clinton Rossiter Biography

Political Scientist

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“The most momentous fact about the pattern of American politics is that we live under a persistent, obdurate, one might almost say tyrannical, two-party system. We have the Republicans and we have the Democrats, and we have almost no one else, no other strictly political aggregate that amounts to a corporal's guard in the struggle for power.”

TwoFactsMightPoliticalPartyStruggleAmountRepublicanDemocratPatternsPersistentAmerican PoliticsTwo Party System
Book:Parties and Politics in America
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“The image the Republicans have of themselves needs the image they have of the Democrats to bring it into sharp focus. The Democrats are plainly a disreputable crowd; the Republicans, by contrast, are men of standing and sobriety. Many a middle-class American in many a small town has had to explain painfully why he chose to be a Democrat. No middle-class American need feel uneasy as a Republican. Even when he is a minority--for example, among the heathen on a college campus--he can, like any white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, warm himself before his little fire of self-esteem.”

MenNeedsFeelsLittlesSelfWhiteClassFireFocusMiddleSelf EsteemExampleCollegeRepublicanStandingTownsDemocratCrowdsWarmEsteemMinoritiesMiddle ClassContrastSmall TownProtestantsSobrietyCampusUneasyHeathenAnglo SaxonCollege Campus
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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“The establishment of religious freedom was no less momentous an achievement than the clearing of the great forest or the winning of independence, for the twin doctrines of separation of church and state and liberty of individual conscience are the marrow of our democracy, if not indeed America's most magnificent contribution to the freeing of Western man.”

IfsMenStatesAmericaWinningIndividualChurchReligiousLibertyDemocracyAtheismAchievementConscienceIndependenceWesternPositive AtheismSeparationForestsDoctrineContributionEstablishmentTwinsMagnificentChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateReligious FreedomClearingMarrow
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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“An annual or frequent choice of Magistrates, who in a year, or in a few years, are again left upon a level with their neighbors, is most likely to prevent usurpation and tyranny ... If rulers know that they shall in short period of time, be again out of power, and ... may be liable to be called to account for misconduct, it will guard them against maladministration.”

IfsKnowsYearsMayPoliticalChoicesPoliticsLeftLevelsPeriodsAccountsNeighborTyrannyRulersLiableAnnualsMagistratesUsurpationMisconduct
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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“A gathering of Democrats is more sweaty, disorderly, offhand, and rowdy than a gathering of Republicans; it is also likely to be more cheerful, imaginative, tolerant of dissent, and skillful at the game of give-and-take. A gathering of Republicans is more respectable, sober, purposeful, and businesslike than a gathering of Democrats; it is also likely to be more self-righteous, pompous, cut-and-dried, and just plain boring.”

GivingSelfGamesCuttingRepublicanDemocratConservativeBoringRighteousSoberCheerfulGatheringImaginativeDissentRespectableSkillfulSelf RighteousPompousGive And TakeRowdyAnti Conservative
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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“The Americans of 1776 were among the first men in modern society to defend rather than to seek an open society and constitutional liberty.... Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of this political theory sits in its deep-seated conservatism. However radical the principles of the Revolution may have seemed to the rest of the world, in the minds of the colonists they were thoroughly preservative and respectful of the past.”

MenWorldMindFirstsMayAmericaPastPoliticalLibertyPrinciplesModernTheoryRevolutionRadicalCharacteristicsRemarkableConservatismRespectfulModern SocietyPolitical TheoryColonists
Author:Clinton Rossiter
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