Quote of the Day: 1 February 2022 #QotD

“The heart of democracy is violence…. In order to decide what to do we, we take a count of everyone for and against it, and then do whatever the larger side wishes to do. We’re having a symbolic battle, its outcome decided by simple numbers. It saves us time and no end of trouble counting actual bodies—but don’t mistake it for anything but ritualized violence.” -Elias Esterbrook, The Aeronaut’s Windlass
[Often overlooked, but not untrue.]