Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jeff Sharlet Books
Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet Books

Journalist

Related Quotes

“What did “good government” really mean? Langlie and his brotherhood promised an end to political corruption. (There’s no evidence that Langlie ever even took a drink, much less a bribe.) The days of “honest graft” were over, at least for a while. But seen from another perspective—that of ordinary citizens without access to Langlie and Abram’s elite network—Langlie didn’t so much end corruption as legalize it. Langlie wasn’t opposed to a government organized around the interests of the greedy; he just didn’t want to have to break the law to serve them.”

GovernmentUnited StatesBriberyLegalityPolitical CorruptionArthur B Langlie
Book:The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Create image

“The politics of that year [2004] are old now, but the problem remains the same, the real culture clash of American life. It's between the essence of fundamentalism - paternalism, authority, and charity - and the messy imperatives of democracy, "the din of the vox populi" once derided by Abram Vereide. It's the difference between false unity, preached from above, and real solidarity, pledged between brothers and sisters - the kinds who are always bickering.”

YearsKindRealProblemCultureDifferencesDemocracyBrotherAuthorityEthicsEssenceRemainsUnityCharitySolidarityFundamentalismCitizenshipBrothers And SistersImperativesMessyClashAmerican LifeBickeringAbramPaternalismVox Populi
Author:Jeff Sharlet
Create image