Sparks Commentary

“I heartily accept the motto,—‘That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and system...

This audiobook changed my mind about utilitarianism . In my college years, I was a fan of utilitarianism. Now, I’m a little soured on it. I ...

In the seventeenth century , Thomas Hobbes gave the most powerful argument ever written for the necessity of some form of government. His o...

John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” is one of the greatest political works ever written. It had a massive influence on the founding d...

I had heard only a little about  Alexis de Tocqueville  before I listened to this audiobook. I knew that he was from France , and that he ha...

“On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate...

Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the founding feminist philosophers. Her 1792 work “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is one of the class...

“The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution , or on the applica...

Étienne de la Boétie When “Discourse on Voluntary Servitude” was first published in 1577, its author had been dead for more than a decade. ...

“I propose, in a series of papers, to discuss the following interesting particulars : The utility of the Union to your political prosperity;...

“Resolved. that the right of suffrage in the first branch of the national Legislature ought not to be according to the rule established in t...

“[The Congress shall have the power] To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,...

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establi...

I’ve read  Rousseau’s “The Social Contract” itself  in the original French . Thus, you might expect me to be something of a “fan” of this wo...

“And the Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alterat...

I had read “The Prince” itself before listening to this audiobook, sometime during the winter of 2006-2007. It was in English translation ...

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own inter...

I once read “The Communist Manifesto”  itself in English translation in 2012, because it is a shorter work that requires very little time...