The critics are like tourists who return from a trip saying they've "done" Machu Picchu: "Okay, we've done magical realism," so now we can throw it out.

The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a good deal more dangerous to the polity than the people at large.

In a society like ours, politics is improvisation. To the artful dodger rather than the true believer goes the prize.

Country is run by... financial powers & corporate interests [who] send their lawyers to Congress to make laws so that they don't have to pay taxes

Art is not a democracy, in fact art is the enemy of democracy

My family helped start [this country], we've been in political life ... since the 1690s, and I have a very possessive sense about this country.

People in my situation get to read about themselves whether they want to or not. It's generally wrong. Or oversimplified - which is sometimes useful.