"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
- Jonathan Swift

The desire to hold public office should disqualify candidates.

While Bernanos did initially support the Spanish Nationalist rebels he was quickly disenchanted with them once he observed them put their ideals into action:
"My illusions on the enterprise of General Franco did not last long - two or three weeks - but while they lasted I conscientiously endeavoured to get over the disgust which some of the men and means inspired in me."
- Bernanos, Georges. A Diary of My Times, London: Boriswood, 1938, p. 85.
I suppose that ultimately the Spanish Fascists were a good influence on Bernanos because their behavior allowed him to see the them clearly.

Well said.

Perfect.
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Holocaust denier Michael A. Hoffman II's 'revisionisthistory' website is not a reliable source of information.

Waffler, youre in over your head.

I wonder who, exactly, he is sure would agree.

Precisely.

Why would this apply only to economic subjects?

We vote looters into public office.__ 5 stars also for the vonMises quote.

Well said, Archer.

"Thank you Alex, I'll take the bleeding obvious for 200." As Justin pointed out this is true of individual conduct as well.

McLaughlin's quote applies to everyone, whatever their profession, occupation, or activity.

"A special cultivation of the romance of the future" sounds like what organized religions have been encouraging for millennia. You just have to die first to get there.

Would countries exist without cunning men?

“Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.” -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782.

You're welcome, Mike. It's a dirty job, but what the hell. ___ Waffler, by "the nations of Europe" I thought you meant the nations on the European continent. What you mean by "the NATO action", "the fall of the war" is less clear.Still, "cold war" covers the same 65 year period you mentioned earlier during which much of Europe was not free. I like to think that Chineese is a typo, although it sits in another collection of words rather than a sentence.

The links disappeared. Second attempt: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html & http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1632213.htm

Eisenhower could have expressed this much better. ___ Look at that Waffler, you have something in common with a US President. Consider your phrase "Aid and technology etc to all the world etc, not to mention learning, capitalism, micro loan economics, and most of all DEMOCRACY especially in South America, Iraq, Israel, etcetera". Despite its placement between an uppercase character and a period it is not a sentence, unless "learning" is its verb, which seems unlikely. Are you continuing the "granting" action denoted in the preceding collection of words? If so, "aid and technology etc to all the world etc" suggests we are granting aid, technology, and so forth to somewhere besides Earth. Also, certain South Americans, Iraqis, and Palestinians under Israeli domination might not agree with your definition of democracy, whatever that is. ___ You might reconsider before describing anyone as "ill informed". The debt figures you mention are inconsistent with the 2009 estimates posted at , which lists China at 18.20% of its GNP and Russia at 6.90%. No nation is listed as "like 0”, nor does the CIA's information suggest any clear correlation between the role of a country in the cold war and its current national debt. The “US via its policies” has not “kept the world from world war”, at least according to a statement made by G.W. Bush on CNBC, as reported at . Nor can the European regions once occupied by the former Warsaw Pact nations and Soviet Union, including the Baltic Republics, be considered remotely "free from tyranny for 65 years". ___ At least your closing avoids triteness, as you are unclear as to which Manchurian man you refer.

Waffler, a disposition cannot be "learned and developed" and meet your definition of "natural."

Freedom, void of virtue, is outside our windows.

Well said J Carlton (x2) and E Archer. I agree that for many Americans, if not most, voting is indeed a foolish act. For some of us, however, it is not.

J Carlton, that would be a good start but we need to go further. No more incumbents. At the end of their first and only term thank them for their service and show them the door. Personally, I say anyone who actually desires public office under our system of government should be immediately disqualified as psychologically unfit and a hazard to society. They need help, not authority.

Interesting selection of quotes today. Card's and Bierce's are unfortunate in that they blamed our exercising our right to vote for the results of elections. Were they suggesting that another method of selection would be an improvement? Rogers was more on target. When our elections bring ruin it says more about our candidates and the voter's way of keeping informed than it does about our right to vote.

I wondered if Rogers was referring to candidates when he said this. Considering the nature of our elections as well as our candidates, I see how the truth causes pain to anyone paying attention.