But those kinds of decisions are going to set off a sort of Hobbesian war of all-against-all within the Democratic coalition.

WSJ: The Evanescence of Majorities

When you hear the term Hobbesian, you think of people at each other's throats, struggling for power in a situation of chaos.

BBC: A Point of View: A time when violence is normal

Loading queues often disintegrate into a Hobbesian struggle to nab untaken seats.

ECONOMIST: Innovation brings emulation

None of this is to be celebrated, of course, but it hardly paints a picture of contemporary American childhood as an unrestrained Hobbesian nightmare.

WSJ: The Panic Over Bullies

Perhaps shocked by the speed at which Washington managed to enact modest pro-growth reform, critics of the Jobs Act have only lately begun suggesting that unsuspecting investors will soon be cast into a Hobbesian state of nature.

WSJ: Kate Mitchell: How Silicon Valley Won in Washington

Central America has fallen into a Hobbesian trap: the better-off make private arrangements there are five times as many private security guards as policemen or soldiers in Guatemala, and four times as many in Honduras and therefore block efforts to levy the tax revenues necessary to strengthen the state.

ECONOMIST: Central America's woes