210 Quotes by Jonah Goldberg

If you spend any time in Washington you’ll find nerds. What happens is most of them sublimate their fixations with comics, or baseball cards, or 1960s British comedies to policy minutiae and political arcana. But, like Christians in ancient Rome, you can still spot them if you know the signals.

In his unintentionally chilling 1890 essay, Leaders of Men, Wilson explained that the “true leader” uses the masses like “tools.” He must not traffic in subtleties and nuance, as literary men do. Rather, he must speak to stir their passions, not their intellects. In short, he must be a skillful demagogue.

Our country, if you read the ‘Federalist Papers,’ is about disagreement. It’s about pitting faction against faction, divided government, checks and balances. The hero in American political tradition is the man who stands up to the mob – not the mob itself.

Public unions are the country’s foremost advocates for increased taxes at all levels of government.

But this is the kind of ass-clownery that stems from the fact that all philosophy looks weird when you don’t have one.

When I see hipsters wearing Mao hats or Lenin T-shirts, I’m grateful. It’s like truth-in-labeling. For now I know you are: Woefully ignorant, morally stunted, purposively asinine, or all three.

You know those Navy SEALs, they weren’t Democrats and Republicans. They were just doing what was best for America. Wouldn’t that be a great country if all of you Americans were just like that? You followed orders, you marched in step and you followed my agenda.

I suppose in John Kerry’s world good diplomacy lets the boys in the bar finish raping the girl for fear of causing a fuss. Okay, that was unfair.

Simply because the nanny-state wants to hug you doesn’t mean it’s not tyrannical if you don’t want to be hugged.