Government | Kevin Barrett's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Government’

Especially In A Fascist State

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged American Politics, Government, Liberty, Philosophy, President Thomas Jefferson, Progress, Quotes on May 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.

― Thomas Jefferson

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Click here (26 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Regaining Our Sight

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Adrift - America In 100 Charts, American Politics, Capitalism Failure, Government, Liberty, Philosophy, Professor Scott Galloway, Quotes, Reasons, Rights, Social Safety Nets on April 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

We lost sight of some of the principal reasons for government: to protect the rights of the minority against the majority; to invest in things the market doesn’t like paying for, like education, infrastructure, and deep research; and to provide a safety net for those who slip through the cracks of the capitalist marketplace. Many came to see government as a threat to liberty, not its protector.

— Scott Galloway
From his book: “Adrift – America in 100 charts“

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Click here (29 April) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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There Is Supply AND Demand

Posted in Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Adrift - America In 100 Charts, American Politics, Business, Costs, Economics, Empathy, Government, Government Service, Leadership, National Guard Youth Challenge, Philosophy, Professor Scott Galloway, Public Service, Quotes, Societal Benefits, Teach for America, The Peace Corps, Vocational Opportunities, YouthBuild on January 24, 2026| 2 Comments »

The benefits – fiscal and social – of national service programs far outweigh their cost. Programs like Teach for America, YouthBuild, and the National Guard Youth Challenge give young adults an opportunity to serve their fellow Americans alongside their peers. The latter two especially focus on offering vocational opportunities for non-college-bound youth, an area in which we lag far behind other developed countries. We should invest in and expand these offerings and explore a mandatory service obligation.

Public service generates the empathy so deeply needed in our hyperpartisan climate. And there is demand – the Peace Corps receives three times as many applications as it has spots.

— Scott Galloway
From his book: “Adrift – America in 100 charts“

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Click here (24 January) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Government Is Not Business

Posted in Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Adrift - America In 100 Charts, Advantage, Business, Economics, Government, Government Service, Leadership, Philosophy, Professor Scott Galloway, Purpose, Quotes, Returns on January 23, 2026| 2 Comments »

Some say we should have more business people in government. I admire great business leaders, but government is not business. Business teaches us to always look for an advantage, to not give anything away without getting more in return. That’s the antithesis of government (and government service), the purpose of which is to contribute to the commonwealth without recompense.

— Scott Galloway
From his book: “Adrift – America in 100 charts“

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Click here (23 January) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Make The Effort Anyway

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Difficulty, Government, Individual Responsibility, John W. Gardner, Philosophy, Processess, Quotes on January 3, 2026| 3 Comments »

It is hard to feel individually responsible with respect to the invisible processes of a huge and distant government.

— John W. Gardner

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Click here (3 January) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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But Sometimes Blindness IS Willful

Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Challenges, Goodwill, Government, Liberty, Philosophy, Quotes, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

The challenge to our liberties comes frequently not from those who consciously seek to destroy our system of government, but from men of goodwill – good men who allow their proper concerns to blind them to the fact that what they propose to accomplish involves an impairment of liberty.

— William O. Douglas

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Click here (9 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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A Still Unproven Postulate

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged American Politics, Common Sense, Confidence, Democracy, Government, Judgement, Maturity, Philosophy, Quotes, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, The First Amendment, Winston Churchill on October 4, 2023| 3 Comments »

The First Amendment makes confidence in the common sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgement the great postulate of our democracy.

— Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

[To quote Winston Churchill: “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” — kmab]

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Click here (4 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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How To Begin

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged American Politics, Art, Drawing, Government, Pablo Picasso, Philosophy, Quotes, Society, Voting on October 5, 2022| 1 Comment »

To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing.

— Pablo Picasso

[To get the kind of society you want, you have to begin by voting for the kind of government which will support and promote it. — kmab]

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Click here (5 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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A Duty To Disobey

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Abuse, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America, Divine Principles, Duty To Disobey, Government, Henry David Thoreau, Philosophy, Quotes, Rights, Social Contract, U.S. Politics, U.S. Representative John Lewis on September 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

As citizens, we knew we had ceded some of our individual rights to society in order to live together as a community. But we did not believe this social contract included support for an immoral system. Since the people invested government with its authority, we understood that we had to obey the law. But when law became suppressive and tyrannical, when human law violated divine principles, we felt it was not only our right, but our duty to disobey. As Henry Thoreau strongly believed, to comply with an unjust system is to accept abuse. It is not the role of the citizen to follow the government down a path that violates his or her own conscience.

― John Lewis
From his book: “Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change“

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Click here (14 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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No Recall

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged 2021 Recall, Democracy, Democrats, Dianne Feinstein, Gavin Newsom, Government, No On The Recall, Politics, Republicans, Voting on September 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »



Above is the image of my proof of vote for our upcoming election (on 14 September 2021), in the attempt to recall the Democratic Governor of California (Gavin Newsom). My mail-in ballot has been received and counted. I voted NO.

History has shown us a few rich Republicans can subvert the will of the Democratic majority in California by spending a few million dollars to fund a recall signature petition. Republicans know they can’t win a statewide election during normal voting cycles because Democrats can gear up to inform the populace and then get out the vote. To get around this, Republicans fund recalls during off-cycle years knowing far fewer voters participate in these “spot” elections. And traditionally, the Democrats fail to vote in much larger numbers than Republicans. So, their minority becomes a majority based on poor turnout.

The unfortunate thing is that should the Republicans succeed, they will have a good chance to also flip the U.S. Senate if an “elderly” Dianne Feinstein is unable to complete her term. So, a two-fer for a little pocket change (to them)…

Stop this blatant attempt to “buy” the governorship of California. Vote NO on the recall!!

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Click here (9 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Access Is Good

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Democracy, Gilad Edelman, Government, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Stacey Abrams, Stacey Abrams on How We'll Beat Back Voter Suppression, Voting, Wired Magazine on September 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Democracy is not partisan. That’s where I begin this conversation. Who I choose once I’m inside the voting booth is my business. Ensuring my ability to get inside is the responsibility of government. I’m a progressive Democrat in part because I want the system to be fair. We should not be guaranteed victory, but we should be guaranteed access. Anyone who believes in our democracy should hold that to be a good.

— Stacey Abrams
Quoted by: Gilad Edelman
In an interview: “Stacey Abrams on How We’ll Beat Back Voter Suppression“
Published in: Wired Magazine
Dtd: 15 September 2020

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Click here (9 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Why Republicans Are Failing America

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Congress, Government, Knowledge, Loyal Opposition, Philosophy, Plato, Politics, Quotes, Republicans, Statesmen, White House on June 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Government can be preserved only by statesmen with knowledge in proportion to their task.

— Plato

[A “loyal” opposition / minority party, should be working to guide government to better policies through compromise, not fighting to stop EVERYTHING dead in the water. The same is true when you have a unified government in control of both the White House and Congress. A “loyal” majority party should not have to force anything through with no concessions to the minority. The majority party needs to be particularly careful when the dis-loyal minority attempts to force you into these actions. Their purpose is to create a “moral equivalency” to justify their past actions and further / future undemocratic actions when / if the dis-loyal minority ever manages to regain control of the government. — kmab]

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Click here (13 June) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Choice

Posted in Economics, Included Video, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Videos, tagged Care, Carl Sagan, Charity, Choice, CNN, Economics, Government, Homeless People, Included Video, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Responsibility, Self-Reliance, Socialism, Socialist, Ted Turner, United States, YouTube on October 9, 2020| 2 Comments »

“Are you a socialist?” Ted Turner asked Carl Sagan. “I’m not sure what a socialist is,” Sagan replied.

But I believe the government has a responsibility to care for the people,” Sagan said.

“I’m talking about making people self-reliant, people able to take care of themselves,” he continued. “There are countries which are perfectly able to do that. The United States is an extremely rich country, it’s perfectly able to do that. It chooses not to. It chooses to have homeless people.”



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Click here (9 October) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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I’d Include Health Care

Posted in Health, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Equal Rights, Government, Happiness, Health Care, Philosophy, Politics, President Thomas Jefferson, Quotes on May 30, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The equal rights of man, and the happiness of every individual, are now acknowledged to be the only legitimate objects of government.

― Thomas Jefferson

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Click here (30 May) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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A Simple Fact

Posted in Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Barry C. Lynn, Corporations, Democracy, Economics, Government, Open Markets Institute, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, Romesh Ratnesar, Technology, Time Magazine, Trust on February 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

It’s a simple fact that technology has been weaponized by private companies against democracy. Corporations are not people. They don’t have souls. They’re institutions designed to make money. And the way the government has always dealt with them is to regulate them to the point where they cease being dangerous to the public.

— Barry C. Lynn
Executive Director
Open Markets Institute
As quoted by: Romesh Ratnesar
In his article: “Trust“
Appearing in: *Time Magazine*; dtd: 16 September 2019

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Click here (6 February) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.