"... of all the methods that have been devised for the division of nations into classes, unequal taxes are the most pernicious and effective. They tend to isolate each class irremediably; for when the tax in unequal, the line is drawn afresh every year between the taxables and the exempts; the distinction is never allowed to fade. Every member of the privileged class feels a pressing and immediate interest in keeping it up and maintaining his isolation from the taxable community."

Excerpt from THE OLD REGIME AND THE REVOLUTION by ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

Thoughts on the French Revolution, socioeconomic inequality and current affairs.

Chiaroscuro 

"Meanwhile the Revolution pursued its course. It was not until the strange and terrible physiognomy of the monster's head was visible; till it destroyed civil as well as political institutions, manners, customs, laws, and even the mother tongue; till, having dashed in pieces the machine of government, it shook the foundations of society, and seemed anxious to assail even God himself; till it overflowed the frontier, and, by dint of methods unknown before, by new systems of tactics, by murderous maxims, and "armed opinions", overthrew the landmarks of empires, broke crowns, and crashed subjects, while, strange to say, it won them over its side; it was not until then that a change came over men's minds."

Excerpt from THE OLD REGIME AND THE REVOLUTION by ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

Thoughts on the French Revolution, socioeconomic inequality and how it relates to our current state of affairs.