Mencken is was right

Under democracy one party always devotes its energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed and are right.

— H.L. Mencken

A reason for war.

Wars and imperialism are Siamese twins joined at the hip. Each thrives off the other. They cannot be separated.

— Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire

Politicians who are far from being genius l know this.

All military geniuses love centralization, which increases their strength, and all centralizing geniuses love war, which obliges nations to concentrate all powers in the hands of the state.

— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume 2 [1840]