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Charles Beard warned us that governments-inc luding the government of the United States-are not neutral, that they represent the dominant economic interests, and that their Constitutions are intended to serve these interests.

Howard Zinn

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Howard Zinn
Age: 87 †
Born: 1922
Born: August 24
Died: 2010
Died: January 27
Film Director
Historian
Historian Of The Modern Age
Human Rights Activist
Journalist
Labor Historian
Pacifist
Peace Activist
Playwright
Brooklyn
New York
Constitution
Charles
Economic
Beard
Interest
Intended
United
Dominant
States
Represent
Government
Governments
Constitutions
Interests
Warned
Serve
Neutral

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Where progress has been made, wherever any kind of injustice has been overturned, it’s been because people acted as citizens, and not as politicians. They didn’t just moan. They worked, they acted, they organized, they rioted if necessary to bring their situation to the attention of people in power. And that’s what we have to do today.
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Crosses and gallows - that deadly historic juxtaposition.
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War is terrorism, magnified a hundred times.
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George Orwell said, Whoever controls the past controls the future, by which he meant that history is incredibly important in shaping the world view of the next generation of people.
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It's not right to respond to terrorism by terrorizing other people. And furthermore, it's not going to help. Then you might say, Yes, it's terrorizing people, but it's worth doing because it will end terrorism. But how much common sense does it take to know that you cannot end terrorism by indiscriminately dropping bombs?
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Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy it is absolutely essential to it. It is a corrective to the sluggishness of the proper channels, a way of breaking through passages blocked by tradition and prejudice. It is disruptive and troublesome, but it is a necessary disruption, a healthy troublesome.
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When people don't understand that the government doesn't have their interests in mind, they're more susceptible to go to war.
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Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience.
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In between war and passivity, there are a thousand possibilities.
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It's a strange thing, we think that law brings order. Law doesn't. How do we know that law does not bring order? Look around us. We live under the rule of law. Notice how much order we have?
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The future is an infinite succession of presents.
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When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.
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Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy it is absolutely essential to it.
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The term 'just war' is an internal contradiction. War is inherently unjust, and the great challenge of our time is how to deal with evil, tyranny and oppression without killing huge numbers of people.
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Is not nationalism - that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder - one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred? These ways of thinking - cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on - have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power.
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There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States.
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Diverse audiences can be just as misled as homogenous audiences.
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If the gods had intended for people to vote, they would have given us candidates.
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They didn't give their lives for their country! their lives were taken from them by their government.
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Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people.
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