Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Michael Parenti

Quote by 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.”

Quote by Michael Parenti

Create image

Author

Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti

Michael Parenti is an American political scientist known for his critical analysis of global political and economic issues. His research covers a wide range of topics, including capitalism, imperialism, racism, and class struggle, and has had a profound impact on understanding contemporary political economic systems. more

You May Also Like

“To oppose the policies of a government does not mean you are against the country or the people that the government supposedly represents. Such opposition should be called what it really is: democracy, or democratic dissent, or having a critical perspective about what your leaders are doing. Either we have the right to democratic dissent and criticism of these policies or we all lie down and let the leader, the Fuhrer, do what is best, while we follow uncritically, and obey whatever he commands. That's just what the Germans did with Hitler, and look where it got them.”

PeopleShouldLooksMeanDoeCountryGovernmentLyingLeaderDemocracyPolicyPerspectiveCriticismDown AndDemocraticCriticalCommandOppositionDissent
Author:Michael Parenti
Create image

“Democracy is not about trust; it is about distrust. It is about accountability, exposure, open debate, critical challenge, and popular input and feedback from the citizenry. It is about responsible government. We have to get our fellow Americans to trust their leaders less and themselves more, trust their own questions and suspicions, and their own desire to know what is going on.”

KnowsGovernmentDesireChallengesLeaderDemocracyResponsibleFellowsCriticalDebateAccountabilitySuspicionDistrustFeedbackExposureInputCitizenryResponsible Government
Book:Superpatriotism
Create image

“A tiny portion of the population controls the lions share of the wealth and most of the command positions of state, manufacturing, banking, investment, publishing, higher education, philanthropy, and media... these individuals exercise a preponderant influence over what is passed off as public information and democratic discourse.”

StatesIndividualWealthShareInfluenceMediaInformationPositionHigherExerciseDemocraticInvestmentPopulationTinyCommandLionsPortionsPublishingPhilanthropyDiscourseBankingManufacturingHigher EducationPopulation Control
Author:Michael Parenti
Create image

“A considerable proportion of the developed world's prosperity rests on paying the lowest possible prices for the poor countries' primary products and on exporting high-cost capital and finished goods to those countries. Continuation of this kind of prosperity requires continuation of the relative gap between developed and underdeveloped countries - it means keeping poor people poor. Increasingly, the impoverished masses are understanding that the prosperity of the developed countries and of the privileged minorities in their own countries is founded on their poverty.”

PeopleWorldKindMeanCountryUnderstandingPoorPovertyProductsCostMassProsperityFinishedPrimariesProportionMinoritiesGoodsGapsRelativePrivilegedLowestPoor PeopleContinuationPoor CountriesDeveloped CountryExportingUnderdeveloped Countries
Author:Philip Agee
Create image

“Imperial politics represents the conquest of domestic politics and the latter's conversion into a crucial element of inverted totalitarianism. It makes no sense to ask how the democratic citizen could 'participate' substantively in imperial politics; hence it is not surprising that the subject of empire is taboo in electoral debates. No major politician or party has so much as publicly remarked on the existence of an American empire.”

AsksPartyExistenceSubjectsCitizensPoliticianElementsMajorsDemocraticDebateConversionLatterEmpiresCrucialSurprisingConquestTotalitarianismTabooInvertedAmerican Empire
Author:Chalmers Johnson
Create image