Best quotes by Glenn Reynolds

Societal NormsPersonally, I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.

GovernmentCollegeThe government decides to try to increase the middle class by subsidizing things that middle class people have: If middle-class people go to college and own homes, then surely if more people go to college and own homes, we’ll have more middle-class people. But homeownership and college aren’t causes of middle-class status, they’re markers for possessing the kinds of traits — self-discipline, the ability to defer gratification, etc. — that let you enter, and stay, in the middle class. Subsidizing the markers doesn’t produce the traits; if anything, it undermines them.

ПолітикаRacismDemocratsThe new racism is anything that might hurt a Democrat politically.

IntelligenceWhat's wrong with "the new elite?" Forget cultural insularity or smugness. The main problem with the "new elite" is that they're not an elite at all. That is, they aren't particularly smart, or competent.

ExhaustionFrustrationJudgmentPersonally, I'm tired of hearing the whole have-you-no-decency routine from people who have made quite clear that they possess none themselves.

ПочуттяKnowledgeUncertaintyThat's the thing about conspiracy theories: in a comforting sort of way, they give rise to the feeling that someone, somewhere, knows what's going on.

When people say things like "don't let this moment pass without acting on gun control," what they're really saying is our arguments are so unpersuasive that they can only succeed when people aren't thinking clearly.

FailureGovernmentWhen the private sector fails, the solution is more government. When the government fails, the solution is more government.

Things that can't go on forever, won't. Debts that can't be paid, won't be.

NewsImagine what things would be like if the news media actually sided with civilization.

The purpose of the right to bear arms is twofold; to allow individuals to protect themselves and their families, and to ensure a body of armed citizenry from which a militia could be drawn, whether that militia's role was to protect the nation, or to protect the people from a tyrannical government.

РеволюціяCommitmentValuesYou can't be halfhearted in a revolution. Values that serve well in a civil society don't work in a state of nature.

As my father-in-law once said, when they talk about taxes it's always for teachers, firemen, and police - but when they spend your taxes, it always seems to go to some guy in a leather chair downtown you never heard of.

CriticismRacismI can think of no better reason to vote against Obama than the prospect of an administration where any criticism of the President is treated as racism.

RepresentationDemocratsDemocrats don't represent the taxpayers, they represent the tax-consumers.

[B]ipartisanship means tarring and feathering politicans from both major parties.

DiversityToleranceHelping OthersBut remember: All this talk of tolerance and diversity is basically just a way for one group of white people to pursue power over other groups of white people. It's not about actually helping anyone.

BeliefGenerositySelf-Reliance[T]he notion that a belief in self-reliance cannot coexist with a spirit of generosity is crap. In fact, one is far less likely to find a spirit of generosity among the advocates of governmentally-required "compassion".

Power DynamicsPolitics[W]hen you align yourself exclusively with one party, and weaponize yourself in that party's cause, you're going to pay the price when the other party is in power. That's the price you pay for whoring yourself out.

PoliticsFeelingIt's not so much about the cause, it's about feeling superior to political opponents.

GovernmentThe nannyism is partly to distract from the corruption — and partly just another opportunity to leverage it. A good general rule is that the more a government wants to run its citizens’ lives, the worse job it will do at the most basic tasks of government.

Bush is quite vulnerable if the Democrats pick the right issues. So far, though, they've shown their usual tendency to go for the capillary.

CriticismPoliticsLet's be honest: Kerry has no idea what it is to be even a middle-class white in this country.

TrustNational SecurityI'd actually love to think that I could trust Kerry on national security. But the only way I could do that, at this point, would be via self-delusion.

With 'swift-boating' now being used by the ignorant as a synonym for false charges, it's worth remembering that it was John Kerry who had to retract his statement about his secret Christmas mission to Cambodia, despite it having allegedly been 'seared, seared' into his memory.

CommunicationAs I have said, the best Bush strategy is to put Congress on TV as often as possible.

AccountabilityWhere the U.N. is concerned, accountability is very thin on the ground in general.

I can't say I'm surprised: the grassroots antiwar movement keeps turning out to be MoveOn/A.N.S.W.E.R. astroturf.

CensorshipIf you only stand up for speech you approve of, you're a hack. If you only stand up for speech that everyone approves of, you're a coward.

MistakesDoubtQuestioningSkepticismReliabilityThe proverbial thirteenth chime of the clock - is not only wrong itself, but calls into question everything that came before it.

PowerGovernmentAuthority[T]he people as ultimate sovereigns, retain the ultimate power - and even the duty - to overthrow any government that fails to respect their authority.

Government, we are sometimes told, is just another word for things we choose to do together. Like a lot of things politicians say, this sounds good. And, also like a lot of things politicians say, it isn't the least bit true. Many of the things government does, we don't choose. Many of the things we choose, government doesn't do. And whatever gets done, we're not the ones doing it. And those who are doing it often interpret their mandates selfishly.

As the interned American citizens of Japanese descent learned, the Bill of Rights provided them with little protection when it was needed.

A 'well regulated militia' was thus one that was well-trained and equipped, not one that was 'well-regulated' in the modern sense of being subjected to numerous government prohibitions and restrictions.

PoliticsSkepticismNever trust anyone who calls himself a libertarian socialist. They're bound to be deeply confused, at best.

MediaPoliticsNewsOpinionsPolitical Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.

Hmm. Petty? Yes. Ineffectual? Yes. Infuriating and off-putting? Yes. Counterproductive? Yes. It's got to be a product of the French Foreign Ministry.

RacismDemocratsIf you're a Republican who's a threat to the Democrats, of course you are a racist. That's the definition of a racist, nowadays.

Diplomacy has more to do with (credible) threats than with sweet reason. And threats from America are a lot more credible, nowadays.

ОптимізмPersonal PerspectiveOne reason that a lot of people see me as cheerful and optimistic is that my expectations are really rather low.