Thoughts
From Lecomte Du Nouy
To really participate in the Divine Task, man must place his ideals as high as possible, out of reach if necessary.
2017-05-22 at 15:17:42
From Chris Hedges
Our descent into despotism began with the pardoning of Richard Nixon, all of whose impeachable crimes are now legal, and the extrajudicial assault, including targeted assassinations and imprisonment, carried out on dissidents and radicals, especially black radicals. It began with the creation of corporate-funded foundations and organizations that took control of the press, the courts, the universities, scientific research and the two major political parties. It began with empowering militarized police to kill unarmed citizens and the spread of our horrendous system of mass incarceration and the death penalty. It began with the stripping away of our most basic constitutional rights-privacy, due process, habeas corpus, fair elections and dissent. It began when big money was employed by political operatives such as Roger Stone, a close Trump adviser, to create negative political advertisements and false narratives to deceive the public, turning political debate into burlesque. On all these fronts we have lost. We are trapped like rats in a cage. A narcissist and imbecile may be turning the electric shocks on and off, but the problem is the corporate state, and unless we dismantle that, we are doomed.
2017-05-20 at 11:56:43
More From Leonard E. Read
Man is an individual being. Man is also a social being. His material success -- even his existence -- depends on the progress of others. Yet, mans fortunes and existence depend also on himself. In some respects he is tied to others, but in most respects he must be freed from others.
2017-05-19 at 14:18:04
More From James Madison
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the place oblige it to control itself.
2017-05-18 at 16:40:13
Yet More From Cousin Lucky
President Trumps greatest failure so for ( as far as I am concerned ) is to only assemble " loyalist followers " instead of " great thinkers " around his presidency!! Even Donald Trumps most ardent supporters are beginning to doubt him! Our country is full of very astute people; but it is a shame that our political system is so rotten and corrupt that people of integrity avoid political office like the plague!!
Real leaders assemble people around themselves that know how to think and deliberate, as John F. Kennedy did!! The only things that President Trump seems to care about are his " image " and the unbending loyalty to his every whim " that those around him must steadfastly always adhere to !! Such an attitude might be great for a private company; but such an attitude is not going to do this country any good at all!!
2017-05-15 at 15:58:49
More From Cousin Lucky
John F. Kennedy was one man who got to be president of the United States; his administration was filled with very smart rational people with the " common good " at heart!! The " entrenched powerful elite " were against everything that he, and his administration, stood for so they got rid of him; and everyone else that dared to champion any " cause of the United States masses "!! I am a proud principled United States citizen, but I am ashamed of the actions of my government here and abroad!!
2017-05-13 at 14:02:40
From Rod Sterling
Too many wars are fought almost as if by rote. Too many wars are fought out of sloganry, out of battle hymns, out of aged, musty appeals to patriotism that went out with knighthood and moats. Love your country because it is eminently worthy of your affection. Respect it because it deserves your respect. Be loyal to it because it cannot survive without your loyalty. But do not accept the shedding of blood as a natural function or a prescribed way of history-even if history points this up by its repetition. That men die for causes does not necessarily sanctify that cause. And that men are maimed and torn to pieces every fifteen and twenty years does not immortalize or deify the act of war... find another means that does not come with the killing of your fellow-man.
2017-05-10 at 13:55:46
More From Jamrs Madison
"All men having power ought to be distrusted." We must learn the lessons of history. People in power, more often than not, abuse that power. To maintain our freedoms, this will mean challenging government officials whenever they exceed the bounds of their office.
2017-05-10 at 13:36:02
From Carl Sagan
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we have been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We are no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we have been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.
2017-05-09 at 13:28:42
From Andrew J. Bacevich
Finding the truth requires looking in the right places and asking the right questions.
2017-05-07 at 19:32:00
From Julian Assange
In the United States the head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation now go around proclaiming who is and who is not a journalist or a publisher, What nonsense!!
2017-05-06 at 15:11:40
From Randolph Bourne
War is like a wild elephant. It carries the rider where it wants, not where he wants to go.
2017-05-05 at 13:14:27
More From Cousin Lucky
Your own mind is the most effective deceiver you will ever encounter!!
2017-05-05 at 09:10:03
From James Madison
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
2017-05-04 at 15:38:17
From Lenin
It is not important who directly advocates a particular policy, since under the present noble system of capitalism any money-bag can always "hire", buy or enlist any number of lawyers, writers and even parliamentary deputies, professors, parsons and the like to defend any views. ...Yes, indeed! In politics it is not so important who directly advocates particular views. What is important is who stands to gain from these views, proposals, measures.
2017-04-28 at 16:27:53