[Mb-civic] Quote

[Ian]

I came across this passage from "Charpterhouse: Dune" by Frank Herbert.  I thought it was apropos:

"It is not that power corrupts, or absolute power corrupts absolutely.  It is that power attracts the corruptible.  Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate....A top-heavy bureaucracy the electorate cannot touch always expands to the system's limits of energy.  Steal it from the aged, from the retired, from anyone.  Especially from those we once called middle class because that's where most of the energy originates.  Chief symptom: people don't vote.  Instinct tells them it's useless.  Democracy is demagogue-prone.  That's a disease to which electoral systems are vulnerable.  Yet demagogues are easy to identify.  They gesture alot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervor and god-fearing sincerity.  Sincerity with nothing behind it takes much practice.  The practice can always be detected by anyone who learns the signs.  Repetition.  Great attempts to keep your attention on words.  You must pay no attention to words.  Watch what the person does.  That way you learn the motives."



Peace.
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