When a politician says the debate is over, you can be sure of two things; the debate is raging; and he's losing it. George Will More Quotes by George Will More Quotes From George Will Politicians fascinate because they constitute such a paradox; they are an elite that accomplishes mediocrity for the public good. George Will mediocrity politics political As Aristotle said, happiness is not a condition that is produced or stands on its own; rather, it is a frame of mind that accompanies an activity. But another frame of mind comes first. It is a steely determination to do well. George Will determination mind firsts Chicago Cubs fans are ninety percent scar tissue. George Will tissues chicago fans I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government. George Will government hands years I sometimes think that when he was at Harvard Law School, Mr. Obama cut class the day they got to the separation of powers, 'cause he seems to consider it not just an inconvenience but an indignity that, although he got 270 electoral votes and therefore gets to be president, he didn't get everything. George Will cutting school thinking Politics should share one purpose with religion: the steady emancipation of the individual through the education of his passions. George Will passion purpose education If your job is to leaven ordinary lives with elevating spectacle, be elevating or be gone. George Will gone ordinary jobs Freedom means the freedom to behave coarsely, basely, foolishly. George Will behave mean America is the only developed nation that has a 2,000-mile border with a developing nation, and the government's refusal to control that border is why there are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona and why the nation, sensibly insisting on first things first, resists 'comprehensive' immigration reform. George Will immigration government america Arizonans should not be judged disdainfully and from a distance by people whose closest contacts with Hispanics are with fine men and women who trim their lawns and put plates in front of them at restaurants, not with illegal immigrants passing through their backyards at 3 A.M. George Will distance men people Believing that a crisis is a useful thing to create, the Obama administration - which understands that, for liberalism, worse is better - has deliberately aggravated the fiscal shambles that the Great Recession accelerated. George Will aggravated administration believe Constitutional arguments that seem as dry as dust can have momentous consequences. George Will argument dry dust Corporations do not pay taxes, they collect them, passing the burden to consumers as a cost of production. And corporate taxation is a feast of rent-seeking - a cornucopia of credits, exemptions and other subsidies conferred by the political class on favored, and grateful, corporations. George Will grateful political class Democrats believe, plausibly, that middle-class entitlements are instantly addictive and, because there is no known detoxification, that class, when facing future choices between trimming entitlements or increasing taxes, will choose the latter. George Will choices class believe I just got hooked on the radio, the voice of it all. It was my connection to metropolitan America, if you will. Sports, in particularly baseball then 'cause of its rich sediment of numbers, was one of the first things a young person could peg up with adults on - that is, you could know as much about Jimmy Fox as your father did. George Will baseball sports father Americans are overreaching; overreaching is the most admirable and most American of the many American excesses. George Will overreaching admirable excess Political nature abhors a vacuum, which is what often exists for a year or two in a party after it loses a presidential election. George Will party two years Americans are conservative. What they want to conserve is the New Deal. George Will deals conservative want Jay Carney, whose unenviable job is not to explain but to explain away what his employers say, calls the IRS’s behavior “inappropriate. ” No, using the salad fork for the entree is inappropriate. Using the Internal Revenue Service for political purposes is a criminal offense. George Will criminals political jobs A decrease in the quantity of legislation generally means an increase in the quality of life. George Will increase quality mean