“[T]here seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously-after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important ... so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsYearsHas BeensImportantStatesReasonSeemsPoliticsUnitedLeaderOpinionMillionsUnited StatesMediaPolicyProveMouthsImportancePaidAffairAthleteIgnorantTreatedRationalDeclineMistakenEntertainersRational ThinkingProfessional AthleteForeign AffairsIdolizedDomestic Policy Author:Robert A. Heinlein
“Some have said that it is not the business of private men to meddle with government--a bold and dishonest saying, which is fit to come from no mouth but that of a tyrant or a slave. To say that private men have nothing to do with government is to say that private men have nothing to do with their own happiness or misery; that people ought not to concern themselves whether they be naked or clothed, fed or starved, deceived or instructed, protected or destroyed.” PeopleMenSaidGovernmentPoliticsOughtFitMouthsConcernMiserySlaveNakedDestroyedFedsTyrantsProtectedDeceived Author:Cato the Younger
“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.” MenWisdomGovernmentPoliticsLibertyWiseIndustryCitizensMouthsCapitalismEconomicsLaborLibertarianImprovementCirclesPursuitSocialismBreadFoundingGoverningFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyPrivate PropertyOur Founding FathersProperty RightsLimited GovernmentDemocracies HaveBill Of RightsUs Founding FathersForefathersFelicityAmerican GovernmentFree GovernmentLimiting GovernmentLibertarian PartyEconomic FreedomInauguralFrugalLimited FreedomInaugural AddressGovernment RegulationFounding Fathers DemocracyRestrainingLimiting FreedomDistribution Of WealthConstitutional GovernmentDemocratic GovernmentGovernment And SocietyFree Market CapitalismTyranny Founding FathersRedistribution Of WealthDemocracy In AmericaCommunism And SocialismGovernment And PoliticsNot VotingGovernment PoliticsFuture Of AmericaVoting Founding FathersRobber Baron Book:Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way Source: Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way