Every person in America has done or said something that would keep him or her from being president. Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do should pipe down about character issues. 32

The Young Americans Ball at the J.W. Marriot Hotel was particularly crowded, and the Young Americans were horribly well behaved. I'd bet most of them weren't even on drugs. This may be just as well. What kind of hallucinations would these clean-cut juveniles have? "Oh man, I was staring at these clouds, and they looked just like falling bond yields." Though I'm a conservative myself, I worry about the larval Republicans. They should act up now and get it over with, otherwise misbehavior may come upon them suddenly in middle age, the way it came upon the protagonist of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and, also, Gary Hart. 43

Life is full of ironies for the stupid.

Freedom is its own punishment.

The early-seventies heroin craze likewise petered out before, emptying the nation's scout camps and Hi-Y chapters. And by the time PCP came along to make kids psychotic, kids were acting so psychotic anyway that who could tell the difference. The only unifying theme in these drug scares seemed to be an American public with a strong subconscious wish to be rid of its young people.

There are certain subjects about which people are incredible boneheads. Humans apparently cannot rationally consider what constitutes a danger to humanity or how likely any given danger is to occur. 225

Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores.
      The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are us. 233