Michael Parenti - Democracy for the Few (1974)

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The peculiar danger of executive power is that it executes.

Michael Parenti
Candidates who win while spending less than their opponents still usually have to spend quite a lot. While not a surefire guarantor of victory, a large war chest -even if not the largest-is usually a necessary condition. Money may not guarantee victory, but the lack of it usually guarantees defeat. Without large sums, there is rarely much of a campaign, as poorly funded 'minor' candidates have repeatedly discovered.

Michael Parenti
In almost every enterprise, government has provided business with opportunities for private gain at public expense. Government nurtures private capital accumulation through a process of subsidies, supports, and deficit spending and an increasingly inequitable tax system.

Michael Parenti
Twelve states in the Great Plains have a wind energy potential greater then the electric use of our entire nation.

Michael Parenti
The crucial role communists played in organizing industrial unions in the 1930s and struggling for social reforms, peace, and civil rights strengthened rather then undermined democratic forces.

Michael Parenti
The two party electoral system performs the essential function of helping to legitimate the existing social order.

Michael Parenti
Actually, the New Deal's central dedication was to business recovery rather than social reform.

Michael Parenti
Conservatives insist that government should be " run more like a business." One might wonder how that could be possible, since government does not market goods and services for the purpose of capital accumulation.

Michael Parenti
There is a century-old saying, "The dollar votes more times than the man."

Michael Parenti
The rich have grown richer, but their tax rate has declined. The poor have grown poorer, but their taxes have increased.

Michael Parenti
Even though the crime rate has dropped in recent years, the United States has more police per capita then any other nation in the world.

Michael Parenti
It may come as a surprise to some academics, but there is a marked relationship between economic power and political power.

Michael Parenti
All economic and political institutions are contrivances that should serve the interests of the people. When they fail to do so, they should be replaced by something more responsive, more just, and more democratic. Marx said this, and so did Jefferson. It is a revolutionary doctrine, and very much an American one.

Michael Parenti
The Federalists also used bribes, intimidation, and fraud against opponents of the Constitution.

Michael Parenti
Those who control the wealth of this society have an influence over political life far in excess of their number.

Michael Parenti
It is ironic that people of modest means sometimes become conservative out of a scarcity fear bred by the very capitalist system they support.

Michael Parenti
The close relationship between politics and economics is neither neutral nor coincidental. Large governments evolve through history in order to protect large accumulations of property and wealth.

Michael Parenti