Top 116 Quotes & Sayings by Ben Domenech - Page 2

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, everyone in America assumed that there would be wars to follow - wars over the reunification of Germany, over the nations within the sphere of Soviet influence, and more. There weren't, because George H. W. Bush's policies and diplomacy prevented that.

Father John Misty is rebelling not against repression or foolishness but the ephemeral nature of mankind. He seeks permanence in a fleeting age, and he does not find it because the one place he could find an answer, he considers closed off: a locked door.

Much of the media failed to anticipate the potential Trump represented as a disruptive populist force, understand why his supporters trusted him, or offer honest reporting on the underlying trends that made his rise possible.

The biggest loser in 2016 was Washington, D.C.

Contemporary defenders of the Enlightenment shouldn't overgeneralize: the Enlightenment, however it is defined, is not an unalloyed good.

It is unhealthy to live in an environment where every aspect of our culture requires a great sort, where creative talents are for some but not for all, and where performing for the president of the United States becomes a point of regular and significant controversy.

For being the largest generation in American history, the Millennial generation inspires a ridiculous degree of overgeneralization.

Conservatives recognize that college campuses and their frames of reality have an outsized impact on the culture, training the next generation of leaders.

To think that the heritage of the West, including post-war liberalism, was a selfish, secular, practical arrangement of politics is a fiction.

The human heart tends toward tribalism before tolerance. We can go back to that world. It still lives in all of us. Fighting it is the challenge, particularly at a time when the most audacious thing you can do is show some grace.

The ongoing argument over whether the Enlightenment is a good thing is hardly a new facet of American political life.

'The Federalist' is a small staff, and our close-knit family of senior contributors outwork our competition because of that closeness.

It is at best insufficient and at worst inaccurate to settle on a definition of the Enlightenment, for the obvious reason that there was not just one.

At 26, I barely knew who I was.

Gawker thrived on embarrassment and shame, seeking to demolish not just celebrities or politicians but average random people whose sins it would expose for traffic and commenters who gloried in its actions.

Father John Misty imagines that he is a rebel. He is, but he does not realize what he is rebelling against.

The idea of the frontier is a stand-in for the idea of liberty.

Engaging in a sycophantic way with any politician in the short term is tempting. It offers the lure of access and the promise of influence. But ultimately, it can lead to misreading the environment, giving too much of an ear to the politician's circle, and confining your audience to partisans.

The disturbing truth we have to recognize is that Bourdain is not alone in his loneliness and depression.

The first time I watched 'The Magnificent Seven' on TV on a Sunday afternoon, I knew it was going to be a different kind of western.

Trump's supporters have taken over the Republican Party - not just because they like him but because they believe his approach to politics has been consistently vindicated.

We saw a true wave election in 2010 for Republicans. There was no such repudiation offered by Resistance Democrats in 2018.

We have all had the experience at some point in our lives of sitting across from someone whose favorite subject is themselves. This is true of nearly everyone to some respect - but for some people, it is a particularly acute problem.

I grew up watching 'The Lone Ranger.' I would get up every Saturday morning, earlier than all the other kids, to watch a black and white western with Clayton Moore that hadn't filmed a new episode since 1957.

Throughout the history of America, we have been a nation driven by the idea of the frontier - a place where law was slim and liberty was enormous, where you could make your way in the world based on your own ambition and abilities, not fenced in by the limitations of society.

For many Americans, 2016 will be remembered as a terrible year. It was a year in which the lack of faith in our institutions was laid bare.

We must not fall into the trap of thinking speech that offends is speech that must be forbidden. A healthy culture demands that much of us, to equip the next generation of Americans with the knowledge and reason they will need to confront an uncertain future.

Trump's rise was contingent on wide swaths of the country completely tuning out so-called mainstream media sources, while all too many outlets did a poor job covering 2016.

One of the frequent blind spots for economic libertarians, speaking as one who has personally dealt with this log in the eye, is a tendency to allow principles of how economies work and the beauty of trade to make us ignore perceived threats animating people who value more than just the power to buy and sell.

When I was much younger, my siblings and I would routinely tune in to watch 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' on PBS. He was a fascinating instructor bent on helping kids achieve a basic understanding of science. When he engaged in politics, it was only very briefly if at all.

In a healthy republic, there is a need for figures who understand that the presidency is not the be-all and end-all of the people.

I have seen cabinet secretaries who type with two fingers.

Belief that your tribe is good and other tribes are evil is what everyone thought for most of human history.

It is a common thing for supporters of President Trump, even as early as when he was a candidate, to say, 'He fights.' And yes, he does fight. He fights everyone. He gets into all kinds of scraps that are pointless and unnecessary. He insults when he doesn't need to.

When Barack Obama arrived in Washington, many in the media welcomed him with optimism as a historic figure focused on progressive change. But their overwhelmingly favorable treatment of him ultimately turned Americans who disagreed with Obama's policies away from traditional media sources they came to distrust.

You have the right to free speech as an American - you have no right to use YouTube to do it. And the mobs that exist can form very quickly if they are offended by your presence there.

'Rogue One' does not feel like a 'Star Wars' movie. There are no scrolling yellow letters. There is no classic John Williams score. It feels like a movie of a different type set in the 'Star Wars' universe, a movie where there is no magic to save you. It is not a movie for children.

Gawker was a site built to destroy lives. Its mission was to discover the worst moment in a person's life - and then publicize it for profit.

It is no accident that the place that lends itself to creating conflicts between the dominant order of thought and people who want to speak their minds freely is the college campus, where conservatives feel outnumbered and crushed by a system of higher education that believes in academic freedom for me, not for thee.

In a time of fractured politics, our need for unifying cultural events is more acute, and particularly our need for creators who do not deny the people their art because of the votes they cast.

This is I think a dramatic point for conservatives. They are waking up to the fact that this guy, that Donald Trump has an ability to speak to people who they thought were theirs ideologically, people who they thought were a part of their team.

Few years ago [Donald] Trump was being roasted by Comedy Central. They always have rules about things that you can't joke about. Donald Trump's rule at that time, the only thing that you couldn't joke about was a suggestion that he has less money that he claimed to.

And for those of us who have, you know, looked in sort of the established order of the political fray over the course of the past several years, it looks like chaos. But to the people I think it looks like democracy. And I think that that's something that really is moving us to a new reality, where the parties are going to have to retrofit themselves and adapt to this new realignment.

To something that looks very different. The thing to understand here is that Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, they're not the disease and they're not the symptom of the disease. They are the beta test of a cure for the perspective of the people.

Conservatives have woken up to the fact they weren`t part of their team and they have a capability of having the kind of message that [Donald] Trump is delivering reach them on a very direct and very personal level so that they sign up. They are willing to go out there and work for him.

I think it`s a message of economic nationalism. It`s obviously one that has bubbled up before in certain pockets, but it`s never been the sort of powerful phenomenon that it is today.

Donald Trump came along and spoke in a language that speaks directly to a portion of the Republican base with what they want to hear. I don`t think that he actually has a very significant ideology.

I think that [Chris] Christie`s endorsement is, you know, it`s a sign that - you know, he is who we thought he was in so many different respects. He`s someone who ambition is the only thing that I think is bigger than his appetite.I think in this case, it`s a situation where he saw the one guy who he thinks he can maybe get a cabinet post with if he wins in Donald Trump. I think, you know, he kind of went out the door doing a number of favors in beating up Marco Rubio the way he did.

I think Donald Trump is a pragmatic sort of populist and who tell people anything in any moment that he wants them to hear, if he thinks that it`s going to be to his advantage, that everything is going to reset in the general election, assuming that he is the nominee, and I think it will be interesting to watch how many people feel betrayed or conned with the game he played with the Republican Party at this point.

I think that there is something that happens, a phenomenon that happens around a conspiracy theory, where if you believe in a conspiracy theory, then every critique of that theory is simply more proof that the conspiracy exists. And I think that that's something that goes on in the person of Donald Trump.

What we're witnessing really is a political realignment, I mean I think we're moving from a traditional understanding of left-right politics that we've had for a long time.

I think one of the things we have in this modern, individualistic age is a recognition that happiness can look very different for very different people. Happiness is not necessarily about how much money you make, happiness isn't necessarily about these aspects of your life.

I think what it really means is a recognition that Donald Trump has the potential to take over the Republican Party and change it into something that`s very different than what it`s been in the past. I don`t just mean in terms of tone. I mean in terms of policy, I mean in terms of every respect.

Essentially, the obligation of conservative media is to question what's going on, and say, "Is this something that is the right thing to do? Is it something that's constitutional? Is it something that is even wise to do?" I think that's true regardless of who's in power.

Whether that's questioning the dominant opinion of the day, the conventional wisdom of the day, or whether it's questioning the policies that come out of Washington, or out of our government, generally, I think media's job is to look at it and say, "What's really going on here? What's the story behind what you see?"

I think this is a moment where Donald Trump recognized the Republican establishment was much weaker, the party leaders were much weaker than they thought they were in terms of being able to dictate any outcomes.