Interesting quotes from a book I'm reading -- guess who the book's about.
"In our Nation today, we have still the continuing menace of a comparatively small number of people who honestly believe in their superior right to influence and direct government, and who are unable to see or unwilling to admit that the practices by which they maintain their privileges are harmful to the body politic."
"Are you free if you cannot vote, if you cannot be sure the same justice will be meted out to you as to your neighbor, if you are expected to live on a lower level than your neighbor and work for lower wages, if you are barred from certain places and certain opportunities. . . ."
"The cunning strategy of the plutocrats . . . was to convince the people that their true interest lay with the interests of big business . . . using 'an ancient strategy' whereby those who would want to exploit or dominate a people 'seek to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them.'"
"Scores of 'Paul Reveres,' mounted on horses with banners reading NO ONE MAN RULE, forayed up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol to save Congress from tyranny."
But the parallels between the times -- then and now -- are amazing. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It's a fascinating (though not a quick) read.
The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America by James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn
