Tag Archive for: Feudalism

Zitate

George Washington | a frightful despotism

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty."

George Washington

Friedrich August von Hayek | voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant

"Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom."

Friedrich August von Hayek

Bernard Edouard Harcourt | The eternal recurrence of new forms of unbearable servitude

"The eternal recurrence of new forms of unbearable servitude, and with them, new forms of resistance, demonstrates that human history is not a progressive march toward absolute knowledge, the demise of the state, or the end of history, but rather a constant struggle for our own subjugation, a battle that must be fought anew to establish our subjectivity, ourselves as subjects. Once we grasp the recurring nature of this struggle, only then will we recognize the task that confronts us today and in the future: to resist the ever-pressing forms of tyrannical power, that brutal desire for subjugation, and the ongoing, ever-renewed attempts to rule through fear, terror, and absolute domination."

Bernard Edouard Harcourt

Alexis de Tocqueville | democracy | Tyranny | despotism

"Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us. You will retain your civic privileges, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them, and if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they, too, be shunned in turn. Go in peace, I will not take your life, but the life I leave you with is worse than death."

Alexis de Tocqueville

Yuval Noah Harari | it would be very tempting, and easy, to toss you overboard

"Your future depends on the goodwill of a small elite. Maybe there is goodwill for a few decades. But in a time of crisis – like climate catastrophe – it would be very tempting, and easy, to toss you overboard."

Yuval Noah Harari

Ingolfur Blühdorn | Politics is losing ground dramatically to the power of the markets

"It has long been obvious in the Western tribal countries of democracy that the promises inherent in this concept will probably remain unfulfilled: Politics is losing ground dramatically to the power of the markets; supposedly democratic systems are firmly in the hands of powerfully organized interests and have less and less to do with popular sovereignty - if there ever was any. Social inequality and the disenfranchisement and reification of citizens as mere administrative objects or human resources are advancing inexorably - though every step of disenfranchisement is communicated as emancipatory gain."

Ingolfur Blühdorn

Coudenhove-Kalergi | Today, democracy is a façade of plutocracy

"The form of constitution that replaced feudalism and absolutism was democracy; the form of government, plutocracy. Today, democracy is a façade of plutocracy: since nations would not tolerate a pure form of plutocracy, they were granted nominal powers, while the real power rests in the hands of plutocrats. In republican as well as monarchical democracies, the statesmen are puppets, the capitalists are the puppeteers; they dictate the guidelines of politics, rule through purchase the public opinion of the voters, and through professional and social relationships, the ministers. Instead of the feudal structure of society, the plutocratic stepped in; birth is no more the decisive factor for social rank, but income is. Today's plutocracy is mightier than yesterday's aristocracy: because nobody is above it but the state, which is its tool and helper's helper. When there was still true blood nobility, the system of aristocracy by birth was fairer than that of the moneyed aristocracy today: because then the ruling caste had a sense of responsibility, culture and tradition, whereas the class that rules today is barren of feelings of responsibility, culture or tradition."

Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi

Machiavelli | He who has once begun to live by robbery

"He who has once begun to live by robbery will always find pretexts for seizing what belongs to others."

Machiavelli

Emiliano Zapata | It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."

Emiliano Zapata

Marvin Simkin | Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch

"Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote."

Marvin Simkin

Florian Willet | sad human truth

"One cause is rooted in the sad human truth that 'slaves' usually dream less of what it would be like to be free than of what it would be like to be 'slave overseers'"

Dr. Dr. Florian Willet

Prof. Reiner Mausfeld | A ‘war against X’ decreed from above

"A 'war against X' decreed from above - be it against 'terror' or against a pandemic - is never about what is declared to be fought. All that is sold here as a war against a threat must not be successful at all, because its success for the economic and political centers of power lies precisely in not being successful and in remaining as a means of generating fear and securing domination."

Prof. Reiner Mausfeld

Montagu Norman | Capital must protect itself in every possible way

"Capital must protect itself in every possible way, both by combination and legislation. Debts must be collected, mortgages foreclosed as rapidly as possible. When, through the process of law, the common people lose their homes, they will become more docile and more easily governed through the strong arm of government applied by a central power of wealth under leading financiers. These truths are well known among our principal men who are now engaged in forming an imperialism to govern the world. By dividing the voter through the political party system, we can get them to expend their energies in fighting for questions of no importance. It is thus by discreet action we can secure for ourselves that which has been so well planned and so successfully accomplished."

Montagu Norman

Edward Bernays | If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind

"If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it."

Edward Bernays

Bertolt Brecht | When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible

"When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer."

Bertolt Brecht

Robert A. Heinlein | There is no worse tyranny

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."

Robert A. Heinlein

Nikolas Schreck | Satanism is a religion for the elite

“Satanism is a religion for the elite, it is a religion for leaders, it's a religion for competent people, it's not a religion for anyone who wants to be a Satanist”

Nikolas Schreck

Smedley Darlington Butler | I might have given Al Capone a few hints

"I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

Smedley Darlington Butler

Dr. Angela Merkel | all the major decisions did not have a demoscopic majority when they were made

"But that is precisely why I am also deeply convinced that it is right that we have a representative democracy and not a plebiscitary democracy, and that representative democracy gives us the opportunity for certain periods of time to make decisions, then within these periods of time also to campaign for these decisions and thus to change opinions. Looking back at the history of the Federal Republic, we can say that all the major decisions did not have a demoscopic majority when they were made. The introduction of the social market economy, rearmament, the treaties with the East, the NATO dual decision, the adherence to unity, the introduction of the euro and also the increasing assumption of responsibility by the Bundeswehr in the world - almost all of these decisions were made against the majority of Germans. Only in retrospect did the attitude of the Germans change in many cases. I also think it's reasonable for the population to look at the outcome of a measure first and then form a judgment about it. I think that is an expression of the primacy of politics. And that should also be adhered to."

Dr. Angela Merkel

Albert Jay Nock | The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social

"The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing."

Albert Jay Nock

Thomas Jefferson | A government big enough to give you everything you want

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have."

Thomas Jefferson

Edmund Burke | Their passions forge their fetters

"Until you could make out practically that great work, a combination of opposing forces, "a work of labour long, and endless praise," the utmost caution ought to have been used in the reduction of the royal power, which alone was capable of holding together the comparatively heterogeneous mass of your states. But at this day, all these considerations are unreasonable. To what end should we discuss the limitations of royal power? Your king is in prison. Why speculate on the measure and standard of liberty? I doubt much, very much indeed, whether France is at all ripe for liberty on any standard. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters."

Edmund Burke

Idi Amin Dada | cannot guarantee freedom after speech

"There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech."

Idi Amin Dada

Fjodor Dostojewski | The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping

"The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison."

Fjodor Dostojewski

Barack Obama | Ordinary men and women are too small-minded

"Ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign."

Barack Obama

Napoleon Bonaparte | A higher power is pushing me to a goal

"A higher power is pushing me to a goal i don’t know. Until it is reached, i will be invulnerable, unshakeable. As soon as i’m no longer needed, one fly will be enough to knock me down."

Napoleon Bonaparte

George Orwell | If you want a picture of the future

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever."

George Orwell

Benjamin Constant | When you pay the representatives of the people

"When you pay the representatives of the people, you do not arouse in them an interest in performing their functions conscientiously; rather, you interest them only in continuing to secure for themselves the exercise of those functions."

Benjamin Constant

John Edgar Hoover | a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists

"The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent."

John Edgar Hoover

Erich Fromm | The holders of authority and those who take advantage of it

"The holders of authority and those who take advantage of it must convince people of this fiction and put to sleep their realistic, that is to say, critical, faculty of thought. Every thinking person knows the methods of propaganda, methods by which critical judgment is destroyed and the mind is lulled until it submits to clichés that stultify people because they make them dependent, depriving them of the ability to trust their eyes and their judgment. This function, in which they believe, blinds them to reality."

Erich Fromm