A government without the power of defense! It is a solecism.

We live in a world shaped by the ambiguous legacy of the Enlightenment...[it] enlarged the scope of human freedom, prepared our minds for the scientific method, made man the measure of all things, and placed individual consent front and center on the political stage.

Arresting a single drunk or a single vagrant who has harmed no identifiable person seems unjust, and in a sense it is. But failing to do anything about a score of drunks or a hundred vagrants may destroy an entire community.

Character is not the enemy of self-expression and personal freedom, it is their necessary precondition.

But no one has yet succeeded in reducing the size or scope of the federal government

Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character.

One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.