On Democracy

“I am a member of a party of one, and I live in an age of fear.”

Decades before our current political turmoil, White crafted eloquent yet practical political statements that continue to resonate. “There’s only one kind of press that’s any good—” he proclaimed, “a press free from any taint of government control.” He condemned the trend of defamation, arguing, “In doubtful, doubting days, national morality tends to slip and slide toward a condition in which the test of a man’s honor is his zeal for discovering dishonor in another.” And defending his staunch opposition to tyranny he maintained, “If it is boyish to believe that a human being should live free, then I’ll gladly arrest my development and let the rest of the world grow up.”