Jakmile typický občan vstoupí do politické oblasti, propadne se na nižší úroveň mentálního výkonu. Argumentuje a analyzuje způsobem, který by ve sféře svých skutečných zájmů ochotně uznal za dětinský. Stává se opět primitivem. "
— Joseph A. Schumpeter Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

Democracy has an "ineradicable tendency to abandon its whole philosophy at the first sign of strain. . .When the national safety is menaced. . .all the great tribunes of democracy. . .convert themselves, by a process as simple as taking a deep breath, into despots of an almost fabulous ferocity."

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. . . On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken on the 'God' of Democracy

Státy převzaly rozsáhlé nové povinnosti a odpovědnost; rozšiřují svou moc dokud neprostoupí veškeré jednání každého občana, jakkoliv soukromé; začínají kolem svých operací zatahovat závoj důstojnosti a neomylnosti Státního náboženství; jejich zaměstnanci se stali oddělenou a nadřazenou kastou s pravomocemi spoutávat a uvolňovat a nahlížet do každého hrnce. Stále ale zůstávají, jako byly už od počátku, společným nepřítelem všech dobrosrdečných, pilných a mravných lidí. -- Henry L. Mencken, 1926.

The neoconservative vision of a good America is one in which ordinary people work hard, read the Bible, go to church on Sunday, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, practice homespun virtues, sacrifice themselves to the "common good," obey the commands of the government, fight wars, and die for the State. . . . In summary, the neoconservatives are the advocates of a new managerial State—a State controlled and regulated by a new mandarin class of conservative virtucrats who think the American people are incapable of governing themselves without the help of the neocons' special, a priori wisdom.

—From Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea

"A pure democracy can admit no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." Thomas Madison

'. . . he is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. He longs for the warm, reassuring smell of the herd, and is willing to take the herdsman with it" Mencken's assessment of the democratic man

There are, to be sure, free spirits in the world, but their freedom, in the last analysis, is not much greater than that of a canary in a cage. They may leap from perch to perch; they may bathe and guzzle at their will; they may flap their wings and sing. But they are still in the cage...Democracy provides swarms of such men."
H.L. MENCKEN, A Mencken Chrestomathy

"As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are only doing their duty, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law-abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life. On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil."~George Orwell, London, 1941

Stát je velkou fikcí, pomocí níž se všichni snaží žít na úkor
všech ostatních."
Frédéric Bastiat

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.

I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty, and that the democratic form is as bad as any of the other forms....

I believe in complete freedom of thought and speech—alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized society.

I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run. I believe in the reality of progress. I—

But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than to be ignorant
H.L Mencken