Bob > Bob's Quotes

“Democracy functions insofar as individuals can participate meaningfully in the public arena, meanwhile running their own affairs, individually and collectively, without illegitimate interference by concentrations of power. Functioning democracy presupposes relative equality in access to resources—material, informational, and other—a truism as old as Aristotle. In theory, governments are instituted to serve their “domestic constituencies” and are to be subject to their will. A measure of functioning democracy, then, is the extent to which the theory approximates reality, and the “domestic constituencies” genuinely approximate the population.”
― Noam Chomsky, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order

“the distinguished Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington, in his text American Politics, observes that power must remain invisible if it is to be effective: “The architects of power in the United States must create a force that can be felt but not seen. Power remains strong when it remains in the dark; exposed to the sunlight it begins to evaporate.”
― Noam Chomsky, Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order

“If you are barking up the wrong tree, it doesn't mean you are acting like a dog. You may be accusing the wrong person, accepting the wrong explanation, or looking for something where you are not likely to find it.”
― Peter Bengelsdorf, Idioms in the News - 1,000 phrases, real examples