Democracy
(Illuminations XXXVII: Démocratie)

‘The flag goes with the foul landscape, and our dialect muffles the drum.
In the Interior we’ll nourish the most cynical prostitution. We’ll massacre logical rebellions.
To the spiced and sodden countries! – In the service of the most monstrous exploitations, industrial or military. Farewell here, no matter where. Voluntary conscripts we’ll possess a fierce philosophy: ignorant of science, wily for our comforts: let the world go hang. That’s true progress. Forward – march!’