Believing that a crisis is a useful thing to create, the Obama administration - which understands that, for liberalism, worse is better - has deliberately aggravated the fiscal shambles that the Great Recession accelerated.

Americans complain a lot about the government and they voice a generalized suspicion of the government, but they constantly clammer for more of it.

The greatest threat to civility - and ultimately civilization - is an excess of certitude. The world is much menaced just now by people who think that the world and their duties in it are clear and simple. They are certain that they know what - who - created the universe and what this creator wants them to do to make our little speck in the universe perfect, even if extreme measures - even violence - are required.

The average American expends more time becoming informed about choosing a car than choosing a candidate. But, then, the consequences of the former choice are immediate and discernible.

The best use of history is as an inoculation against radical expectations, and hence against embittering disappointments.

Being elected to Congress is regarded as being sent on a looting raid for one's friends.

Most presidents come to Washington bright as freshly minted dimes and leave much diminished.