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81 " Conservatism—not to mention the ideological Right—was a minority preference in the decades following World War II. "
― Tony Judt , Ill Fares the Land
82 " As a consequence, the thick mesh of social interactions and public goods has been reduced to a minimum, with nothing except authority and obedience binding the citizen to the state. "
83 " The chief shortcoming of the old public services was the restrictive regulations and facilities—one-size-fits-all—with "
84 " tax farming is absurdly inefficient. In the first place, it discredits the state, represented in the popular mind by a grasping private profiteer. Secondly, it generates considerably less revenue than a well-administered system of government collection, if only because of the profit margin accruing to the private collector. And thirdly, you get disgruntled taxpayers. "
85 " But at least their provision was universal, and for good and ill they were regarded as a public responsibility. "
86 " Beneficiaries of the welfare states whose institutions they call into question, they are all Thatcher’s children: politicians who have overseen a retreat from the ambitions of their predecessors. "
87 " Margaret Thatcher, like George W. Bush and Tony Blair after her, never hesitated to augment the repressive and information-gathering arms of central government. "
88 " One striking consequence of the disintegration of the public sector has been an increased difficulty in comprehending what we have in common with others. "
89 " even if the students of Berkeley, Berlin and Bangalore share a common set of interests, these do not translate into community. Space matters. And politics is a function of space—we "
90 " The loss of social purpose articulated through public services actually increases the unrestrained powers of the over-mighty state. "
91 " sense of shared citizenship. This sentiment was crucial to the formation of modern states and the peaceful societies they governed. "
92 " Rigid dress codes can indeed enforce authority and suppress individuality—an army uniform is intended to do just that. But in their time, uniforms—whether worn by schoolchildren, mailmen, train conductors or street-crossing wardens—bespoke a certain egalitarianism. A child in regulation clothing is under no pressure to compete sartorially with his better-off contemporaries. A "
93 " In an age when young people are encouraged to maximize self-interest and self-advancement, the grounds for altruism or even good behavior become obscured. Short of reverting to religious authority—itself on occasion corrosive of secular institutions—what can furnish a younger generation with a sense of purpose beyond its own short-term advantage? "
94 " There is a widespread sense that since ‘they’ will do what they want in any case—while feathering their own nests—why should ‘we’ waste time trying to influence the outcome of their actions. "
95 " privatization reverses a centuries-long process whereby the state took on things that individuals could not or would not do. "
96 " This cohort of politicians have in common the enthusiasm that they fail to inspire in the electors of their respective countries. They do not seem to believe very firmly in any coherent set of principles or policies; "
97 " They convey neither conviction nor authority. "
98 " Convinced that there is little they can do, they do little. "
99 " we lose faith not just in parliamentarians and congressmen, but in Parliament and Congress themselves. "
100 " In our political as in our economic lives, we have become consumers: choosing from a broad gamut of competing objectives, we find it hard to imagine ways or reasons to combine these into a coherent whole. We must do better than this. "