SELECTED EVIDENCE AND QUOTATIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORITIES ON OUR "BROKEN REPUBLIC"

" Restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on ideological predispositions." President Obama's Agenda

 

1. EXPERT TESTIMONY ONE. James K Gailbraith (Economist and son of the reknowned Harvard professor John Gailbraith writes, "Today, the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign competition, nor class struggle, nor an inclusive middle-class utopia. Instead, predation has become the dominant feature — a system wherein the rich have come to feast on decaying systems built for the middle class. The predatory class is not the whole of the wealthy; it may be opposed by many others of similar wealth. But it is the defining feature, the leading force. And its agents are in full control of the government under which we live." (James Gailbraith, THE PREDATOR STATE HOW CONSERVATIVES ABANDONED THE FREE MARKET AND WHY LIBERALS SHOULD TOO, CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK REVIEW).

2. JUDICIARY EXPERT TWO. "The real rulers in Washington are invisible, and exercise power from behind the scenes". US Supreme Court Justice Felix FRANKFURTER

3. PRESIDENTIAL WITNESS THREE: " 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 cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow".GENERAL EISENHOWER, COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE EUROPEAN THEATER DURING HITLER'S & KRUPP'S MILITARO-INDUSTRIAL WAR, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.

4. PRESIDENTIAL WITNESS FOUR: " Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.". US President WOODROW WILSON, The New Freedom: A Call For The Emancipation Of The Generous Energies Of A People (quote found in his book's preface).

5. SCIENTIST WITNESS FIVE: “I'm angry that in the land of freedom, Americans are still denied access to dozens of effective cancer treatments that are available in other countries around the world (…) I'm angry that the Food and Drug Administration denies people's rights to choose their own treatments (…) I'm angry that the Federal Government has failed to test a single alternative cancer treatment, despite years of efforts (…) I'm angry about the Mafia-like control of the cancer field by the drug industry, through their domination of virtually every single cancer research and treatment institution (…) I'm angry that the "scientific" studies of new drugs, funded by huge companies, almost always turn in favorable results and are approved by the FDA”. Dr Ralph W. Moss, Director of Cancer decisions, formerly from the Sloan Kettering cancer institute.

6. PRESIDENTIAL WITNESS SIX: ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON CORPORATE FINANCE BAIL OUTS."It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now, sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the people's money being used to pay the fiddler...all this to settle a question in which the people have no interest, and about which they care nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel." Abraham LINCOLN January 11, 1837

7. UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR WITNESS SEVEN: NOAM CHOMSKY: "Personally, I'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions of society have to be under popular control. Now, under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist; that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be establishedat every level--there's little bargaining, a little give and take,but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward. Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy." Noam Chomsky

 

**********

 

“…all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness”

(The United States Declaration of Independence, 1776).

" I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." Thomas Jefferson

"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers." Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev

"My father said, 'Politics asks the question: Is it expedient? Vanity asks: Is it popular? But conscience asks: Is it right?'"Saying we should keep the two-party [political] system simply because it is working is like saying the Titanic voyage was a success because a few people survived on life rafts." Eugene J. McCarthy

"Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be." Herbert "Marshall" McLuhan

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."Henry Louis Menck

" If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake. (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." (Groucho Marx)

"There is no connection between the political ideas of our educated class and the deep places of the imagination." (Lionel Trilling)

"Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them." Paul Valery (1871-1945, Tel Qeul 2, 1943)

Politics is the art of the possible. Otto Von Bismarck, remark, Aug. 11, 1867German Prussian politician (1815 – 1898)

"In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate." General Charles De Gaulle

"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him." General Charles De Gaulle

"In order to become the master the politician poses as the servant." General Charles De Gaulle

"When you get involved in politics, you sign a Pact with the devil" Raymond Aron.

"It often happens in History that what appears to be a universal truth during one period is such an absurdity in another that the only difficulty is to imagine how such a belief could have been credible in the first place". (JOHN STUART MILLS, Author of "On Liberty" and father of modern economic freedoms. CLICK HERE FOR A REVIEW

 

FOR A DIFFERENT "ATTITUDE" MORE POSITVE ON POLITICS, SEE THE QUOTES BELOW.

 

 

" It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs" . Albert Einstein, (1879 - 1955), in Treasury for the Free World", 1946

" Restore the basic principle that government decisions should be based on the best-available, scientifically-valid evidence and not on ideological predispositions." President Obama's Agenda

The State Department's mission statement is to "Create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community." 

"Peace is not a passive nor definitive state, a kind of Dead Sea where the river of History goes to die. On the contrary, peace is a state of high human activity which mobilizes the highest functions of the human spirit. Peace requires a continuous creation of new values, new emotions, new ways of thinking. It is only at this price that our new institutions that peace requires can live. In a word, Peace is the highest and most arduous form of the Universal Revolution." (Madariaga, president of the "Thirteen", League of Nation).

"C'est dans le monde de l'action que notre intelligence a été coulée " (Bergson) (It is in the world of action that our intelligence is sculpted").

 

"Those who won our independence (...) believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty". Justice Louis BRANDIES

My country is where there is no liberty" Tom Paine

"There is only on thing more powerful than all the armies of  the world, that is an idea whose time has come” Victor HUGO

"A good politician triumphs by adapting to the times and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. A great politician anticipates openings others don’t see and creates possibilities that were not there before". Raymond Aron (French political philosopher)

" If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake. (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. (Mahatma Gandhi)

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions – it only guarantees equality of opportunity". Irving Kristol

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy". (Abraham Lincoln)

Politics is the art of the possible. Otto Von Bismarck, remark, Aug. 11, 1867German Prussian politician (1815 – 1898)

(...) " Freedom is not a gift received from the State or leader, but a possession to be won every day by the effort of each and the union of all ". Albert CAMUS

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:  know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more." President Obama, inauguration speech.

An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a Republic." Thomas Jefferson

 

“ We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the recent one, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand”. (Thomas Paine, February 14, 1776)