Cut down on your use of plastic shopping bags because many end up in the ocean.
Diplomacy has more to do with (credible) threats than with sweet reason. And threats from America are a lot more credible, nowadays.
Personally, I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons.
What's wrong with "the new elite?" Forget cultural insularity or smugness. The main problem with the "new elite" is that they're not an elite at all. That is, they aren't particularly smart, or competent.
As my father-in-law once said, when they talk about taxes it's always for teachers, firemen, and police - but when they spend your taxes, it always seems to go to some guy in a leather chair downtown you never heard of.
[T]he notion that a belief in self-reliance cannot coexist with a spirit of generosity is crap. In fact, one is far less likely to find a spirit of generosity among the advocates of governmentally-required "compassion".
[W]hen you align yourself exclusively with one party, and weaponize yourself in that party's cause, you're going to pay the price when the other party is in power. That's the price you pay for whoring yourself out.
Charm might be described as enlightened self-interest, a development of one's best self. . . . In the simplest possible terms, I think genuine charm is an unmotivated interest in others.
Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously
The MVP award was very satisfying in terms of personal accomplishments, but the championship was the most important thing of all.
The idea of the chickens with the multiple breasts and thighs came from an urban legend that some fast-food places had developed chickens with four thighs. It wasn't true, but it is a suggestive rumor.