Men are the only animals that devote themselves, day in and day out, to making one another unhappy. It is an art like any other. Its virtuosi are called altruists. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth. The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. |
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