"Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally... Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia." -George Orwell, 1984
2 + 2 = 5
"Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally... Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia." -George Orwell, 1984
Against the Will of the People
"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin
Fleecing the People
“These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.” -Abraham Lincoln
Transfer of Power
"Aristocrats fear the people, and wish to transfer all power to the higher classes of society." -Thomas Jefferson
Unwitting
"Putin has recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation." -Former CIA Director Michael Morell
Suppressing the Vote
"I don't want everybody to vote… our leverage in the elections goes up as the voting populace goes down." -Paul Weyrich, conservative activist, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation
The End of Democracy
"The end of democracy and the defeat of the American revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of the lending institutions and moneyed incorporations" -Thomas Jefferson
Racist
"But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?" -Robert F. Kennedy
Determining the News
“A handful of us determine what will be on the evening news broadcasts… And those [news stories] available to us already have been culled and re-culled by persons far outside our control.” -Walter Cronkite
Commanding Worship
“We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.” -Ronald Reagan
Stealing From the Hungry
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” -Dwight D. Eisenhower
Hostile to Liberty
Questioning Authority
“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” -Benjamin Franklin
"Less Government, More Freedom"
“The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.” -U.S. Supreme Court, 1967
Leaving the People in Ignorance
“The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to the kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.” -Thomas Jefferson
Forbidden Unions
“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” -Ronald Reagan
Controlling the Public
“Those who manipulate the organized habits and opinions of the masses constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of… It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” -Edward Bernays, consultant to CBS, GE, Proctor and Gamble
Labor vs. Capital
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” -Abraham Lincoln, 1861
Loving Our Oppressors
"The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make a criminal look like he's the victim and make the victim look like he's the criminal... If you aren't careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." -Malcolm X, 1964
Subverting the Power of the People
“[Political parties] are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” -George Washington, 1796
Control of Our Currency
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless" -Thomas Jefferson
Political Evil
“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” -John Adams, 1789
No Questions
“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.” -Ray Bradbury, 1953, from “Fahrenheit 451”
Disastrous, Misplaced Power
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted." -Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
The War Is Not Meant To Be Won
"The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance... The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact." -George Orwell, 1949, from "1984"
Inevitable Revolution
“A revolution is coming - a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough - but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.” -Robert F. Kennedy, 1966
Endangered Liberties
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” -Thomas Jefferson
The Danger of Increased Security
"There is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning” -John F. Kennedy
Using the News to Deceive
"With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution." -Vice President Henry A. Wallace, 1944
War Is Not What It Seems
"War is just a racket... something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses." -Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler, Former Commander U.S. Marine Corps, 1933
Private Ownership of Government
"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1938
An Invisible Government
"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." -Theodore Roosevelt, 1912
Preying on the Poor
“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.” -Thomas Jefferson
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