Goering and Bush: one voice

As emailed to me, here’s a quote by Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials, 1946 (from Nuremberg Diary, by G. M. Gilbert)
“Of course the people don’t want war ….. That is understood. But ….. it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Every once in a while I wonder if, indeed, the form of government that offers the most equity to the most people is a benevolent dictatorship — rule by an ethical, moral, egalitarian individual who insists on liberty, equality, fraternity, on peace and freedom, on an equitable distribution of wealth. What is it about us humans that we seem unable to build and sustain that kind of sytem for ourselves.

1 thought on “Goering and Bush: one voice

  1. I think there’s a paradox here in human nature: the people who are fair-minded tend not to want to take the power necessary to become dictators, and the people who can and do take power tend to be those pathological personality types, who don’t care for the welfare of others. Ultimately there’s no getting around “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” :-/

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