A side trip into political philosophy

I ran across this gem on the way to something else recently. It says a lot about the current state of politics, I think:

"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid people. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it."

-- John Stuart Mill, "Letter to the Conservative MP, Sir John Pakington" (March 1866)