The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Freedom of the mind requires not only, or not even especially, the absence of legal constraints but the presence of alternative thoughts. The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity, but the one that removes awareness of other possibilities.” —Alan Bloom (1930-1992)

Village Idiots: “[N]o matter who is elected to be president, that person will not be able to address the enormous problems facing the working families of our country. They will not be able to succeed because the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of campaign donors is so great that no president alone can stand up to them. … [T]hat is why what this campaign is about is saying loudly and clearly: It is not just about electing Bernie Sanders for president, it is about creating a grassroots political movement in this country.” —Bernie Sanders

Braying Jenny: “I don’t believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate.” —Hillary Clinton telling the Black Lives Matter crowd how it’s going to be

Intraparty dissent: “[W]e have now abandoned our long-held policy of preventing nuclear proliferation and are now embarked, not on preventing nuclear proliferation, but on managing or containing it — which leaves us with a far less desirable, less secure and less certain world order. So, I am deeply concerned that this is a significant shift in our nonproliferation policy, and about what it will mean in terms of a potential arms race in an already dangerous region.” —Sen. Bob Menendez announcing his opposition to Obama’s Iran nuclear deal

Late-night humor: “There are reports that if Joe Biden runs for president, he would promise to serve for only one term — because nothing says confidence like promising your presidency would be over quickly.” —Jimmy Fallon