When making an example, always choose an innocent man: this cows innocent and guilty alike.
Jan 262022
Ruling
In ’37 Stalin made a hash
Of party loyalists and army brass.
Decimation: One in ten are shot.
What’s the word when one in ten are not?
Jan 212022
None rule by force alone.
Jan 172022
Punishment deters less the few who suffer it than the many who fear that they might.
Jan 132022
Institutions are never repaired, only replaced.
Jan 122022
Every great racket begins as a business, becomes a movement, and eventually degenerates into a cause.
Jan 062022
The ideal subject population must be able to absorb the regime’s propaganda as well as willing to believe it — credulous, but literate.
Dec 272021
There is a limit to the number of people who can be sanely ruled under a single polity, a Dunbar’s Number for governance. It is probably greater than 150 and certainly less than 300 million.
Dec 022021
I would vote if it cost enough.
Nov 082021
Punishment must be harsh when it is neither swift nor sure.
Oct 262021
A philosopher once noted that jaywalking could be prevented by executing offenders. This may not be a point in favor of executions for jaywalking; but it is certainly a point in favor of executions.