Quotes by David Frum

“(By the end of the 70s, many people) hungered for religions sweets, but rejected religions discipline; wanted its help in trouble, but not the strictures that might have kept them out of trouble; expected its ecstasy, but rejected its ethics; dema”

“The great power the president has is that he is the most prominent person in the biggest media event on the planet. He has the attention of the nation and the world. When he speaks, everybody listens.”

“Compared to, say, a prime minister of England, a president has actually astonishingly few legal powers. A prime minister of England can take England to war all by himself. He doesnt have to have a vote in Parliament, nothing. The President of the United States has to get a Declaration of War.”

“What the generation, the Americans who came of age in the 30s and 40s believe they lived, felt, I mean had reason to feel they lived in a world that was very much beyond their control and in which terrible things were capable of happening to you beyond your control. The depression being the obvious example.”

“The present course cannot be followed forever,”

“Does Yasser Arafat Have AIDS?”

“left behind a country that was more dynamic, more competitive, more tolerant, less deferential, less self-confident, less united, more socially equal, less economically equal, more expressive, more risk-averse, more sexual, less literate, less polite, less reticent.”

“Reagan is a symbol who calls the party to be something broader. The Republican Party is in many ways a very disunited party. In a way, by making Reagan a greater figure, you can create a greater unity.”

“It has opened up a lot of unhappiness that has accumulated over time. I dont know yet how serious the consequences will be.”

“Its a funny story; its not a self-aggrandizing one.”

But the thought leaders on talk radio and Fox do more than shape opinion. Backed by their own wing of the book-publishing industry and supported by think tanks that increasingly function as public-relations agencies, conservatives have built a whole alternative knowledge system, with its own facts, its own history, its own laws of economics.

So if I have two pieces of cake, do I have twice as good an experience as the first piece of cake? One of the things Ive found in life is that the first piece of cake is the best.

To balance China, the democracies will need new friends - and India with its fast-growing economy, youthful population, and democratic politics seems the obvious candidate.

If right and left are competing to be the biggest victim, who is competing to be the government?

Im a latecomer to the environmental issue, which for years seemed to me like an excuse for more government regulation. But I can see that in rich societies, voters are paying less attention to economic issues and more to issues of the spirit, including the environment.

Why should we not expect self-designated environmental leaders to practice what they preach?