That said, a state is certainly a dangerous thing whose power deserves to be minimized and decentralized as much as practically possible. Lest you think this makes me some sort of Republican, I will point out that the R's policies, while making accurate observations on the nature of state power, have the fatal flaw of being blind to concentrations of corporate and class power. (And not only that: they are in bed with the right-wing "patriots" and "Christian" conservatives, who would have no trouble in invoking the state's power to persecute me. Being both gay and a leftist means I have, in their eyes, two indelible black marks against me that prevent me from being a "real American" and in fact make me a threat that society needs to be protected from, not a citizen whose rights need to be guaranteed.)
For an idea of what I'm talking about, read all or some of the following (most aren't very long, so don't panic): Political Ideals (Bertrand Russell), The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Oscar Wilde), What Life Means to Me (Jack London).
What follows is a miscellaneous assortment of political stuff,
in no particular order.
This Modern World
This Modern World
is a cartoon dealing with political issues that is almost always
a laugh riot. Check it out!
"A convincing little argument." And an all-too-common little argument.
"Trotskyists." A group, in my opinion, whose visability far exceeds the merits of its doctrines.
"Nuclear deterrence." This cartoon outlines an insight that I had once long ago, one of a number of dangerous little thoughts that eventually led me to reach the conclusions I have.
"The Religion of the Press." Just why do you think the papers were full of Princess Diana pictures for weeks on end, with nary a peep about the factory workers that get killed each day in Indonesian and Chinese sweatshops?
"Poisoned at the Source." This cartoon so infuriated the Associated Press that they brought a libel suit (later dropped) against the magazine that published it.
"Anarchists."(Originally untitled. Title provided by yours truly.)
"A Compulsory Religion." Who says there is no official religion in the USA?
"The Workingman of Nazareth." (Originally untitled. Title provided by yours truly.)
![[Free Enterprise]](free_enterprise.gif)
When someone attaches the word free to something, always ask yourself "Freedom for whom?"
Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and
demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of
justice and mercy.
-- Wendell Berry
America is like a melting pot. The people at the bottom get burned,
and the scum floats to the top.
-- Charlie King
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed
by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing
about them.
-- George Orwell, in "Notes on Nationalism", 1945
I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller
boy. I expostulated, but he replied: 'The bigs hit me, so I hit the
babies; that's fair.' In these words he epitomized the history of the
human race.
-- Bertrand Russell, in Education and the Social Order
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and
physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it
never will. Find out just what a people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of
injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted
with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of
those whom they oppress.
-- Frederick Douglass, from an address on West India Emancipation, August 4, 1857.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-- George Bernard Shaw
Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation
to break the law.
-- Henry David Thoreau
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be
slaves.
-- Henry David Thoreau, 1847
While there is a lower class I am in it,
While there is a criminal element I am of it,
While there is a soul in prison I am not free.
-- Eugene Debs
When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call
me a communist.
-- Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Recife
Last changed: 20-SEP-1997 20:03:14
David Barts | davidb@scn.org | http://www.scn.org/~davidb/
