"Behind the ostensible Government sits enthroned an invisible Government, owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." Theodore Roosevelt, The Progressive Platform "As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests... Any individual who is able to raise enough money to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress." Gore Vidal, The Decline and Fall of the American Empire, 1992 "Last year, pressed by progressive donors at a dinner party to act more like the progressive they thought he was, Obama responded sharply, 'Don’t you remember what happened to Dr. King?'” Ray McGovern, Doubting Obama's Resolve To Do Right "The TPP, along with the WTO and NAFTA, is the most brazen corporate power grab in American history. It allows corporations to bypass our three branches of government to impose enforceable sanctions by secret tribunals. These tribunals can declare our labor, consumer and environmental protections unlawful, non-tariff barriers subject to fines for noncompliance. The TPP establishes a transnational, autocratic system of enforceable governance in defiance of our domestic laws." Ralph Nader "Psychopaths are notorious for not answering the question posed them or for answering in a way that seems unresponsive to the question. What makes psychopaths different from all others is the remarkable ease with which they lie, the pervasiveness of their deception, and the callousness with which they carry it out. Psychopaths show a stunning lack of concern for the devastating effects their actions have on others. He will choose you, disarm you with his words, and control you with his presence. He will delight you with his wit and his plans. He will show you a good time but you will always get the bill. He will smile and deceive you, and he will scare you with his eyes. And when he is through with you, and he will be through with you, he will desert you and take with him your innocence and your pride. You will be left much sadder but not a lot wiser, and for a long time you will wonder what happened and what you did wrong. And if another of his kind comes knocking on your door, will you open it?" Robert D. Hare, Without Conscience
