Wayfarer
mississippi
Look at the tyranny of party -- at what is called party allegiance, party loyalty -- a snare invented by designing men for selfish purposes -- and which turns voters into chattles, slaves, rabbits, and all the while their masters, and they themselves are shouting rubbish about liberty, independence, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, honestly unconscious of the fantastic contradiction; and forgetting or ignoring that their fathers and the churches shouted the same blasphemies a generation earlier when they were closing their doors against the hunted slave, beating his handful of humane defenders with Bible texts and billies, and pocketing the insults and licking the shoes of his Southern master. *Samuel Langhorne Clemens*
Yes, Clemens, Will Rogers, and hundreds of other great thinkers have always warned of the evil nature of politics. Socrates, on the other hand, said that the highest philosophy man could attain was that of the political art, and as thanks he was accused of poisoning the minds of the youth and killed. Good men like Ike have always been ineffective in democratic politics simply because the evil people in this world outnumber the good by a wide margin and always have. Good men must rule by absolute power and force if they're to rule at all, and that seldom happens anymore. Few dictators have been good monarchs. Basically, the world is screwed.
So true,
To make deep profound observations with no action behind them is pretty much useless against tyranny and oppression.
I think when the comfort level reaches miserable people usually start to do something about the situation they are in.
The western world is asleep at the wheel right now.....IMO but it's getting a little better. I hope it's not just a blip on the way down.
Craig