Chomsky Quotes... many won't like them but they have rung true

[Ichingcarpenter]

Unfortunately, you can't vote the rascals out, because you never voted them in, in the first place.



RULING CLASS

Roughly speaking, I think it's accurate to say that a corporate elite of managers and owners governs the economy and the political system as well, at least in very large measure. The people, so-called, do exercise an occasional choice among those who Marx once called "the rival factions and adventurers of the ruling class."



TWO PARTY SYSTEM

In the United States, the political system is a very marginal affair. There are two parties, so-called, but they're really factions of the same party, the Business Party. Both represent some range of business interests. In fact, they can change their positions 180 degrees, and nobody even notices

. In the 1984 election, for example, there was actually an issue, which often there isn't. The issue was Keynesian growth versus fiscal conservatism. The Republicans were the party of Keynesian growth: big spending, deficits, and so on. The Democrats were the party of fiscal conservatism: watch the money supply, worry about the deficits, et cetera.

Now, I didn't see a single comment pointing out that the two parties had completely reversed their traditional positions. Traditionally, the Democrats are the party of Keynesian growth, and the Republicans the party of fiscal conservatism.

So doesn't it strike you that something must have happened? Well, actually, it makes sense. Both parties are essentially the same party. The only question is how coalitions of investors have shifted around on tactical issues now and then. As they do, the parties shift to opposite positions, within a narrow spectrum.



CONSERVATISM
"Tough love" is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else.


ELECTIONS

I mean, what's the elections? You know, two guys, same background, wealth, political influence, went to the same elite university, joined the same secret society where you're trained to be a ruler -

they both can run because they're financed by the same corporate institutions. At the Democratic Convention, Barack Obama said, 'only in this country, only in America, could someone like me appear here.' Well, in some other countries, people much poorer than him would not only talk at the convention - they'd be elected president.

Take Lula. The president of Brazil is a guy with a peasant background, a union organizer, never went to school, he's the president of the second-biggest country in the hemisphere. Only in America? I mean, there they actually have elections where you can choose somebody from your own ranks. With different policies. That's inconceivable in the United States.



Capitalism

Personally I'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions in the society have to be under popular control. Now, under capitalism we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. Thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist; that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level -- there's a little bargaining, a little give and take, but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward. Just as I'm opposed to political fascism, I'm opposed to economic fascism. I think that until major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy.



You can read tons more at this page.. its just his quotes nothing else.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

[KG]

1. i don't rec often. but Chomsky knows what time it is.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. The Economic Deficit Reduction bullshit deal

proves that and acknowledges why the parties are really just
the same horse. Sometimes the democrats play the head
and republicans play the tail and visa versa... but its the same horse.

[KG]

3. there are cosmetic differences to be sure; the anti-war and social equality movements

found a temporary home in the dem party when it was convenient for the politicos.

but basically both parties have always serve the interests of the TPTB.

[tomp]

21. the democratic party never met a war it didn't like. nt

[joshcryer]

9. The social issues are worth considering which is why Chomsky believes we should vote...

[DeadEyeDyck]

16. amen KnR

[Frank Cannon]

14. I don't rec often, but when I do...

[Blue_Tires]

30. +1

[Radical Activist]

4. "In fact, they can change their positions 180 degrees, and nobody even notices."

Ummm...I'm noticing in Wisconsin and Congress right now.
Chomsky is great but anyone who can type that line right now is out of their fucking mind. Do you have any idea what's going on right now?

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Those are grass roots stuff not Congress nor the Presidency

Yeah..... I know what the fuck is going on.

Breaking from AP

President Obama's Justice Department is looking into the Cock brothers
and Governor Wanker.

The Democratic Senate is doing the same thing.


Yea..... I know what's going on.

[sendero]

52. Call me.

..... when there is something real. Obama and Holder are always "looking into" shit but NOTHING EVER HAPPENS AND IT WON'T THIS TIME EITHER.

Chomsky is right, as usual and it's too fucking bad so many refuse to see it.

[Radical Activist]

58. Republicans destroying epa and the clean air act is not grass roots.

On one side we have a President who did more for clean energy in 6 months than Clinton and Carter did in 12 years combined. On the other side we have Republicans trying to destroy any environmental protection after 8 years of Bush doing the same.

Again, any fool can notice the difference.

[sabrina 1]

25. What's happening in Wisconsin, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain,

Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, and starting in Europe, is the PEOPLE finally pushing back against what Chomsky is talking about.

This was not part of their script, that the people would finally, across the globe, unite and say 'ENOUGH'!

It is the beginning of a worldwide revolution against Global Capitalism/Colonialism and their puppets in nearly every country in the world.

It started in Latin America, the rejection of what Chomsky is talking about, and now it's spreading all over the world.

Wisconsin is the beginning of America finally waking up and fighting back.

The Egyptians recognized that last week, sending messages of solidarity to the people of Wisconsin and pizza also.

People of the world are united in their judgement of the greedy, corrupt, capitalist system that has caused so much corruption and so much suffering around the world.

They were all in Libya, the Corps, the arms dealers, not caring one bit about the people there. The Libyans are ending it in their country.

I hope Wisconsin will be the beginning of Americans ending it here. It was never meant to benefit the average people, it was for the wealthy and millions worldwide are no longer in the dark.

Chomsky is so right!

[chervilant]

33. You're right, too:

globally, the hoi polloi is saying "hell no!" to the myopic, greedy corporatists who think the common people deserve to feel the pain of this looming economic disaster all by ourselves! When is Mr. Walker going to cut his own salary? When are the corporatists and politicians going to pare down their bloated salaries and all their expensive benefits?!

Isn't it ironic how MANY of us marched on Washington to say NO to the illegal invasion of Iraq; to say NO to runaway deficit spending; to say NO to the hedonistic, sociopathic Corporatists who've usurped our government, our media and our economy--yet here we are as a nation, better than $14 trillion in debt!?!

The inevitable turmoil of the global economic catastrophe we are just beginning to witness promises to get far worse, especially since our politicians think they can keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

[sabrina 1]

39. Excellent post. The way to get out of this catastrophe is to

force them to return the money they stole. We need to start seeing some prosecutions.

The people did not cause this disaster, we know who caused it, yet nothing is being done to get our money back. I have read that 15% of this country's wealth has disappeared over the past decade. Where is it? Where are they hiding it? Isn't it about time to start getting answers to these questions? Where is the DOJ on the corruption that brought down this country's economy? Are they even looking into the biggest bank heist ever?

And I agree with you. Let Walker take a cut in his salary and he can raise taxes on his rich buddies in order to solve any budget crisis. Leave the workers alone!

[Radical Activist]

62. Obama called for a bottom-up movement for change

during the election. I'm glad to see the left is finally answering that call with an organized movement. The last two years of sitting back and being armchair cynics was a horrible wasted opportunity.

Chomsky's quote was relevant back when he said it. Today we have a President who will help support and respond to the movement. That's a significant difference I can recognize. Can you?

[ThomCat]

32. Do you see the Democratic Party in DC, the president, Congress

rushing in there to do SQAT?

You're giving the party all the damned credit for what PEOPLE are doing, for what UNIONS are doing. Why is that?

[chervilant]

54. hmm...

I can only surmise from your response to the person I have on my ignore list that said person posted yet another inanity that justifies inclusion on my list.

[Radical Activist]

60. Republicans destroying epa and the clean air act is not the people or Democrats.

What Walker is doing is noticeably different than what Democratic Governors are doing. This isn't happening next door with the Democratic Governor of Illinois.

You've imagined something I didn't write. My point is that I notice what party the attacks are coming from and realize that there's a significant difference between the two.

On one side we have a President who did more for clean energy in 6 months than Clinton and Carter did in 12 years combined. On the other side we have Republicans trying to destroy all environmental protection after 8 years of Bush doing the same.

Only a fool can't recognize that there's a very big difference between the two parties right now. The old Green party cliches and 10 year old Chomsky quotes are no longer relevant this year.

[liberation]

40. Everytime I think irony is dead...

... the divide between your narrative and your chosen screen name come to the rescue with the irony CPR kit.

[Radical Activist]

59. Being radical doesn't require

believing everything a few left heroes said 10 or 20 years ago.

[leveymg]

6. 5th rec. A point of view well worth wider consideration.

I studied polisci at BU under Howard Zinn, which means that I saw a lot of Noam on many occasions, and had the opportunity to talk with Chomsky. He's much gentler and more humorous in person than his deep-drilling until the bit hits granite writings might indicate. He has an amazing eclecticism to his logic, and is a brilliant speaker. But, at the end of the day, he's an MIT systems guy, and I think somehow that misses the humanity, the tragedy and pathos, of how the power elite actually live and operate.

Noam concludes that the system is basically Fascism and that those who run it are Fascists -- well, technically he's right about that -- but, Greek tragedy probably shows us more of who they are and what really moves them to do the great and terrible things they do. The elites are tragic and pathetic figures who are trapped by the games they construct. None of them are actually free. Noam is not a doctrinaire Marxist at all, but his analysis is essentially class-based and tends to diminish the role of the individual in favor of historical trends and social classes, which explains much but not as much as it should.

Anyway, that's just my .02.

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. I honestly think the World is waking up to that fact

Notice how the banks are still protected that started this shit.
The Bailouts are on the backs of the working class and in the US
everyone knows that as does Europe.

Even the middle East sees the connections.

[leveymg]

23. As Adm. Yamamoto said, America is a sleeping giant, but when it is roused, it is an awsome force.

I will add, for either good or ill. The Cold War excused, extended and disguised a great number of social ills that were carry overs from the pre-New Deal era. The Cold War elites milked anti-Communism for 50 years and the GWOT for another ten. The American middle-class are sick of the contradictions and lies that enabled the endless rounds of wars in the name of free markets and "democracy". Most now realize the utter hypocrisy and wastefulness of it.

As the Empire shrinks, it is the costs that are really not longer tolerable, and as the middle-class grows to understand how they have been ripped off and turned into debt paupers to enrich the Cold War elies, they will rebel in creatively destructive ways that will amaze and hearten the world. The awakening has begun. The rebellion is happening, and we cannot be stopped.

[Kip Humphrey]

7. And so, We the People are pitted against each other while the corporatocracy plays on.

[bobbolink]

20. Unless and until we choose to stop being complicit, and SUPPORT each other.

What a concept.

[Enthusiast]

48. Like that's going to happen.

We have this 24/7 misinformation machine. Watch the Sunday Morning political programs. It is sickening.

[chervilant]

55. Hey, Lady!

I hope you're feeling better!

[joshcryer]

8. Ahh, anarchists.

<3

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. anarchists is a word that means liberal now

Most don't know how much that word has become corrupted or what it really means.

But they are doing a good job on LIBERAL now since they destroyed the other one

[joshcryer]

11. Anarchism was demonized from the start, few people actually research what it actually means.

Hell the capitalists even decided to start calling themselves "anarchists" ("anarcho"-capitalists).

Chomsky is an anarchist, btw, many people don't know it.

[carterbob1]

43. Love reading and listening to Chomsky

I am a big fan of Chomsky. I first learned of him when I was a graduate student in Linguistics many years ago. From there, I became interested in his writings on politics. Sometimes, I see his form of anarchism described as Left Libertarianism or Libertarian Socialism. Some people say that terms like "Left" and "Libertarian" or "Libertarian" and "Socialist" are contradictory or mutually exclusive. However, these paired terms are actually quite compatible when considered in the way that Chomsky uses them as he has spent a lifetime critically evaluating what such terms refer to and synthesizing the best characteristics of each one.

[inna]

63. great interview here:

http://struggle.ws/rbr/noamrbr2.html




and no, Chomsky is not an anarchist. he's sympathetic to and supportive of the cause, but he ain't no anarchist.

[xchrom]

13. Recommend

[_ed_]

15. This quote sums up the Obama years

CONSERVATISM
"Tough love" is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else.

[snagglepuss]

17. Bang on. nt

[somone]

27. Amen. Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition

so we can defend freedom in Afghanistan

[Enthusiast]

49. Yeah nt

[leftstreet]

18. K&R

"the rival factions and adventurers of the ruling class"
-Marx

:thumbsup:

[rucky]

19. The way he frames his views on capitalism is perfect.

Take notes, DU-ers: Economic democracy or economic fascism? The corporate system that now controls us is fascist in it's structure. Unions make the entity more democratic.

[tomp]

22. this is fairly obvious to anyone paying attention.

the extent to which it is not common a understanding is the extent that people are either not paying attention or are working for one of the factions.

[closeupready]

51. I know, right? I can't tell you how many times I'll see someone cut right through the bullshit,

to be met with utter silence in response.

[CTyankee]

24. If you go back and read Marx now, as I did in grad school a while back,

you will have that proverbial light bulb go on above your head! You'll see that what he wrote is unfolding before us NOW. "Das Kapital" lays it out, the way it was and the way it is looking now, again. He is also pretty witty, which I can't say the other economic philosophers were! Snarky, but pretty damn funny...

Go to your public library and check out a copy of Das Kapital and you'll see what I'm talking about!

[Luminous Animal]

26. You can also read it online.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/index.htm

[CTyankee]

29. Hey, of course!

[liberation]

41. But... but... they told me that Marx was an evil dude, and that he ate babies

Capital is divine, just like John Locke and Adam Smith implied and that is that.

[CTyankee]

53. Marx made no effort to disguise his contempt for capitalists whom he called

"moneybags" and "bagmen." But he also skewered some of the purveyors of the ideas of the "rights of man," making reference to them collectively at one point as "Freedom, Equality, Property and Bentham."

Reckless use of capital was one of his main ideas and one that he so long ago had flagged as egregious capitalist behavior (which we relived so recently and are still feeling the effects from). He footnotes speculation on the Liverpool cotton exchange and railways in the U.S. In those instances factories were closed and workers were turned in the streets in order for capitalists to go on their speculative sprees.

Not much rhetorical flair in his writing but not without some passion and sarcasm...

[chill_wind]

28. K & R for interesting exchanges and discussion.

[malaise]

31. Chomsky is boss

Love him

[carterbob1]

45. He is indeed

especially with his detailed historical knowledge and his nuanced understanding of complex issues and events

[grahamhgreen]

34. "Hegemony or Survival" - one of his best books, IMHO.

[Umbral]

35. oh, it's too easy.nut the only

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x513084#513104

[defendandprotect]

36. We've long know it's one party with two wings -- absorbing that info and doing something

about it may take a few more decades!!

If there are any differences between the parties ... THEY ARE FADING FAST!!



In the United States, the political system is a very marginal affair. There are two parties, so-called, but they're really factions of the same party, the Business Party. Both represent some range of business interests. In fact, they can change their positions 180 degrees, and nobody even notices

[inna]

37. Huge K&R, and thank you for this thread!

[slay]

38. He is right on indeed - especially about cRapitalism

[DeSwiss]

42. K&R

"In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFPLQw2w4zA">~Noam Chomsky

[carterbob1]

44. I agree with you

I like Chomsky quotes a lot. They have indeed rung true many times over the decades. He must be in his 80s by now, and his mind continues to be as sharp as a razor.

[upi402]

46. He was sharp as ever on Democracy Now!

He was right on Iraq, as right as he always is. We worship Reagan and ignore our national treasures.

Blame the media. Hold them responsible for the betrayal of democracy.

[Le Taz Hot]

47. Kick for Chomsky.

I've been reading him for years.

[Enthusiast]

50. K&R! nt

[Karmadillo]

56. And our next step is?

nt

[rhett o rick]

57. k&r

[txlibdem]

61. Highly recommended, just too late to push the button

Too bad I missed this earlier.

Thanks for posting some of the great Chomsky quotes!