“Independence, the first condition of liberty, can be secured in the last analysis only by the armed strength of the citizenry itself, never by mercenaries or allies or money; consequently arms are the first foundation of liberty. There is no lasting safeguard for liberty in anything but one’s own strength.” FreedomLibertyStrengthIndependence Book:The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom Source: The Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom
“An ideologue - one who thinks ideologically - can't lose. He can't lose because his answer, his interpretation and his attitude have been determined in advance of the particular experience or observation. They are derived from the ideology, and not subject to the facts.” ThinkingHas BeensFactsLosesAnswersAttitudeAtheismSubjectsParticularLosingExperienceConservativePositive AtheismDeterminedObservationIdeologyInterpretationIdeologicalIdeologues Author:James Burnham
“Where there is no alternative there is no problem.” ProblemAlternativesNo Problem Author:James Burnham
“There is no one force, no group, and no class that is the preserver of liberty. Liberty is preserved by those who are against the existing chief power. Oppositions which do not express genuine social forces are as trivial, in relation to entrenched power, as the old court jesters.” ForceSocialLibertyClassGroupsRelationCourtGenuineChiefsOppositionJesterCourt Jester Author:James Burnham
“Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide.” SuicideWesternIdeologyLiberalism Author:James Burnham
“The economic egalitarianism of the liberal ideology implies ... the reduction of Westerners to hunger and poverty.” PovertyEconomicHungerIdeologyReductionEgalitarianismWesternersHunger And Poverty Author:James Burnham
“Modern liberalism, for most liberals is not a consciously understood set of rational beliefs, but a bundle of unexamined prejudices and conjoined sentiments. The basic ideas and beliefs seem more satisfactory when they are not made fully explicit, when they merely lurk rather obscurely in the background, coloring the rhetoric and adding a certain emotive glow.” MadeIdeasSeemsCertainBeliefModernEmotionalColorConsciousUnderstoodPrejudiceBackgroundsRationalLiberalismSentimentsRhetoricObscurityGlowingExaminingBasicsExplicitBundlesLurkingModern Liberalism Author:James Burnham
“Armaments do not, generally speaking, cause wars. This notion, the logical crux of all arguments in favor of disarmament, turns the causal relationship upside down. Actually, it is wars, or conflicts threatening war, that cause armaments, not the reverse.” WarTurnsCausesPeaceConflictArgumentNotionFavorsLogicalReverseThreateningUpside DownDisarmamentArmamentCrux Book:The War We are in: The Last Decade and the Next Source: The War We are in: The Last Decade and the Next
