Since when do grown men and women, who presume to hold high government office and exercise what they think of as “moral leadership,” require ethics officers to tell them whether it is or isn’t permissible to grab the secretary’s behind or redirect public funds to their own personal advantage?

Washington, under Democrats and Republicans, has a profoundly neurotic attitude toward ‘the people.’ It is built on equal parts of suspicion, loathing, fear, respect and dependence.

Everyone seems to be running against a liar, but nobody seems to be one. Odd – I mean, the math doesn’t work out.

Everybody’s for democracy in principle. It’s only in practice that the thing gives rise to stiff objections.

There’s nothing so dangerous for manipulators as people who choose to think for themselves.

In government and out, there are vast realms of the bureaucracy dedicated to seeking more information, in perpetuity if need be, in order to avoid taking action.

There is such a thing as tempting the gods. Talking too much, too soon and with too much self-satisfaction has always seemed to me a sure way to court disaster. The forces of retribution are always listening. They never sleep.

If you were starting from scratch to invent an instrument that could impose fiscal discipline, the last one on earth you would come up with is the United States government.

Everybody's for democracy in principle. It's only in practice that the thing gives rise to stiff objections.

Everyone seems to be running against a liar, but nobody seems to be one. Odd - I mean, the math doesn't work out.