The federal government does not trample in jackboots those with whom it does business. It wraps them in cotton batting and, when they express ingratitude, apologizes profusely. Timothy Noah More Quotes by Timothy Noah More Quotes From Timothy Noah Customer service, they say, is dead. Actually, it isn't. It's just hiding behind a call center in Manila. Timothy Noah call-center hiding behinds There is quite a lot of mutual misunderstanding between the upper middle class and the working class. Reviewing what's been said about the white working class and the Democrats, I realized that there's even a lot of disagreement about who the working class IS. Timothy Noah middle white class The fallacy is that politicians don't really do much about social issues. They just demonize their opponents as elitists and reap the benefit. It's a stupid way to do politics. Economic issues can more often be addressed concretely, and it would seem logical for people to vote their interests in this area. Timothy Noah issues often-is stupid Is New Ageism inherently fascist? Of course not, though I'm happy to pronounce its babble about chakras and cosmic energy errant quackery. Timothy Noah about new energy happy What if an asteroid were to strike planet Earth? What could we possibly do to prevent it? However many guys we have working on this problem, it can't possibly be enough. Timothy Noah what-if problem enough earth The gulf between Virginia and Maryland isn't only a function of geography. It's also sociological. Indeed, it's probably not much of an exaggeration to say that Maryland suburbanites and Virginia suburbanites constitute two mutually hostile tribes. Timothy Noah say only function geography The Reagan years really were a bonanza for the rich; you didn't imagine that. Timothy Noah you rich imagine years The Kurds were the only people in Iraq who were completely unguarded in expressing their gratitude to the United States for setting them free. Timothy Noah only free gratitude people What type of 'person' is the for-profit corporation? A spoiled brat - all rights and no responsibilities, a traditional conservative argument would say. Timothy Noah person say argument rights Some liberals think that describing any role that education gaps play in creating income inequality is some sort of sellout - that, in essence, you're telling the middle class, 'Tough luck; you should have stayed in college.' Timothy Noah think you luck education Voters care only that student loans remain freely available and that they cost taxpayers as little as possible. Timothy Noah possible student only care The central con of the political coalition assembled by Ronald Reagan and maintained by his successors was that government was a common enemy. Timothy Noah con political government enemy Is class snobbery a social reality in the United States? Absolutely, and the kind that's codified by meritocracy is probably more toxic than the old-fashioned kind based on bloodlines. Timothy Noah more toxic class reality The liberation of Iraq, which is already hard to justify from the perspective of American interests, at least had the virtue of freeing Iraqis from a brutal dictator. Despite all the anarchy and violence, life has gotten better for most Iraqis. Timothy Noah better perspective violence life To pine for the days before public education became a practical reality is to pine for an America held back by mass ignorance and mass illiteracy. Timothy Noah back ignorance education reality Everyone agrees that animals should not be exposed to unnecessary pain. But neither should scientists be hamstrung by the requirement to use anesthesia in every animal experiment that might cause pain. Timothy Noah animals everyone pain animal Income inequality has gotten worse under President Barack Obama. Timothy Noah worse inequality income president If corporations are people, as the Supreme Court wishes us to believe, they are stunningly unpatriotic ones. Timothy Noah wishes us believe people The U.S. policy of hoarding crude oil never made the world, or even the U.S., a safer place. Timothy Noah place never oil world The doomsayers of the 1970s were wrong about how quickly the world would run out of oil, but not about the dangers that hydrocarbon consumption posed to the global environment, especially with respect to climate change. Timothy Noah climate-change respect change world