Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Jon Stewart

Quote by Jon Stewart

“1. Society needs laws. While anarchy can often turn a humdrum weekend into something unforgettable, eventually the mob must be kept from stealing the conch and killing Piggy. And while it would be nice if that "something" was simple human decency, anybody who has witnessed the "50% Off Wedding Dress Sale" at Filene's Basement knows we need a backup plan—preferably in writing. On the other hand, too many laws can result in outright tyranny, particularly if one of those laws is "Kneel before Zod." Somewhere between these two extremes lies the legislative sweet-spot that produces just the right amount of laws for a well-adjusted society—more than zero, less than fascism.”

Quote by Jon Stewart

Book:America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
Create image

Work

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart, born on November 28, 1962, is an American satirist, comedian, writer, and television host. He is best known for his work on 'The Daily Show', where he used satire and humor to deeply analyze American politics and social issues. more

You May Also Like

“As heirs to a legacy more than two centuries old, it is understandable why present-day Americans would take their own democracy for granted. A president freely chosen from a wide-open field of two men every four years; a Congress with a 99% incumbency rate; a Supreme Court comprised of nine politically appointed judges whose only oversight is the icy scythe of Death -- all these reveal a system fully capable of maintaining itself. But our perfect democracy, which neither needs nor particularly wants voters, is a rarity. It is important to remember there still exist other forms of government in the world today, and that dozens of foreign countries still long for a democracy such as ours to be imposed on them.”

HumorPoliticsDemocracyCongressVotingSupreme Court
Book:America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
Create image

“At no point that day did I ever think about the politics of that crowd. Even the things that were said not resonate in the middle of that chaos, but what did resonate was the fact that thousands of Americans were attacking police officers who were simply there doing their job, and that they were there to disrupt members of Congress who were doing their jobs.”

PoliticsPoliceCongressJanuary 6
Book:Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul
Create image

“A core element of Permacapital Economics Is the price mechanism. Whereby, individual economic participants determine the prices of the products and services they sell and buy, according to supply and demand. Supply and demand is based on individual choices. Supply and demand determines the production of and prices of products and services. Prices naturally strive for equilibrium, as if being led by an invisible hand. Because buyers will always have a highest price point beyond which they are unwilling to pay for a given product or service, thereby making it unprofitable for sellers to attempt to sell those products or services beyond that price point. Similarly, sellers have a lowest price point beyond which they are unwilling or unable to sell a given product or service. This generally eliminates the existence of products or services which provide no net gain to society. The price system is the most efficient mechanism for ensuring that the needs and desires of buyers and sellers are adequately met among people in society, and that members of society at large has access to the highest quality and quantity of products and services.”

EconomyEconomicsTradeCongressEconomic PolicyTariffsEconomy QuotesPermacapital EconomicsTrade Deal
Book:Principles of a Permaculture Economy
Create image

“Congressional public hearings are not for the public but for Congress. They are designed to provide the Committee members with as much exposure as possible, and give the public the impression that its Congressmen are serious about what they’re doing and that they have not been squandering the taxpayer’s money. Hearings are primarily designed, in other words, to be politically rewarding.”

CongressPolitical Process
Book:The Last Investigation
Create image

“It was 3:15 in the morning of June 26, 1980, and Congressman Bob Livingston was extraordinarily drunk, hiding in the Congressional Gym beneath the Rayburn House Office Building, petrified that a team of highly trained right-wing homosexuals working on behalf of Ronald Reagan was about to kill him.”

CongressHomosexualConspiracy TheoryRonald Reagan
Book:Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
Create image