"This is the luxury academics have. You can pontificate all day about how things should be done, knowing that you’ve never tried to actually do them yourself."
"Until something screwy happens in our politics and society, and suddenly you can do them. You are allowed to design a health care plan that you insist is a utopian dream come true. Sure, there will be some collateral damage – a few lives ruined – but that’s all just part of the calculation. And hey, if we have to lie to get the thing passed, so be it.
"The ends always justify the means for tyrants."
