Political Quotes

[Pathless]

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."

--Stephen Biko

[Pathless]

"It occurs to me that governments are instituted among men to keep them apart. And so is capitalism. And its fodder, money. And so are 'nuclear' families--highly mobile, of course. And so is progress, the touchstone of corporationism, of the nation, and of every American's life. It occurs to me that the 'melting pot' never worked because it was not intended to work and that schools and other institutions are designed to teach and reinforce the principle that group experiences are painful, anti-human, demoralizing.... Loneliness, the beloved American Hero, is a coiling clinging snake. It is strangling the life out of the people, the families around us, killed by the murderous creations of our own minds. Yet it is seductive, hypnotic in its murderous intent, because however fiercely loved, solitude is not really possible, in this world after all."

--Paula Gunn Allen, from "The Savages in the Mirror," in Off the Reservation

[Pathless]

"Because Western societies are fundamentally the same--they all arise from the same essential culture base--Eurocentric critics think that culture is a unified field. French, English, German, Italian, Swiss, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, and Spanish worldviews are, at their deepest levels, part of the same cultural matrix: they all have the same mother, and that they are governed by members of the same extended family is but one mark of this profound sameness. But though these 'cultures' are much alike, others are not of the same configuration, springing in no way from a similar root."

--Paula Gunn Allen, from "Thus Spake Pocahontas," in Off the Reservation

[Pathless]

"Democracy is a second practice shared by nature-based cultures. In a democratic system every single member has the opportunity to participate in decision-making. ...[T]ruly satisfying particapatory democracy seems always to evade our reach, even for those of us who inhabit one or another of the great 'democracies' that emerged with the Enlightenment.

The crux of the matter is a little-appreciated factor: scale. Democracy is automatically abrogated when any gathering of people becomes too numerous for the continuous involvement of each member. As Australian political philosopher Leopold Kohr puts it, 'When something is wrong, something is too big.'

...Small, face-to-face groups are a universal characteristic of nature-based cultures....

...Democratic decision-making is likewise a common characteristic among nature-based peoples. Because of ongoing face-to-face contact, as well as councils for decision-making in some communities, every member has the opportunity to talk things out, make suggestions, have them heard, and participate in guiding the group."

--Chellis Glendinning, from My Name is Chellis & I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization

[Dogbrain]

"The worst form of slavery is that which is called Caesarism, or the choice of some bold or brilliant man as despot because he is suitable. For that means that men choose a representative, not because he represents them, but because he does not. Men trust an ordinary man like George III or William IV because they are themselves ordinary men and understand him. Men trust an ordinary man because they trust themselves. But men trust a great man because they do not trust themselves. And hence the worship of great men always appears in times of weakness and cowardice; we never hear of great men until the time when all other men are small."

G. K. Chesterton.