Topic

Politics

Politics in this collection is where the most reliable cynics leave their best material. Bierce provides three entries, each more precise than the last: opposition as the party that hamstrings the government to prevent it running amuck; alliance as the union of thieves; vote as the instrument and symbol of a freeman's power to make a wreck of himself. Napoleon on stupidity-not-being-a-handicap is the summary. Rogers on the government as material for a humor column — there's no trick when they do your work for you — is the observation of someone who spent thirty years watching official behavior and found it inexhaustible. Twain on the man who knows nothing and thinks he knows everything being clearly destined for a political career is the most efficient diagnosis. Washington on government as fire — handy servant, dangerous master — is the most venerable entry, and possibly the most durable because it is neither cynical nor naïve. What the collection argues is that politics is the domain of the collective that most consistently disappoints individual intelligence, and that this has been true for as long as anyone has been keeping records.