Seat of Power?

"Politicians working within a system like ours can never be much more than what the system will allow. Hypocrisy and self-deception are the traditional characteristics of the middle class in any place and time, and the Untied States today is the paradigmatic middle class society. Therefore, we can hardly blame our political gamesmen for being, literally, representative. Any public man has every right to try and trick us, not only for his own good but, if he is honorable, for ours as well. However, if he himself is not aware of what he is doing or to what extent he is playing the game, then to entrust him with the first magistracy of what may be the last empire on earth is to endanger us all." ~ Gore Vidal

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military/industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." ~ Dwight D Eisenhower, President of the United States, 1953 - 1961