---
title: "31 States Quotes By Gore Vidal"
description: "31 States quotes by Gore Vidal. Plus more from Gore Vidal and more States sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/679/gore-vidal-466_ifs_if-you-want-to-rise-in-politics-in-the-u_2488857.jpg"
---

> [If you want to rise in politics in the United States, there is one subject you must stay away from, and that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-want-to-rise-in-politics-in-the-united-states-there-is-one/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/679/gore-vidal-466_ifs_if-you-want-to-rise-in-politics-in-the-u_2488857.jpg)

> [There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-something-about-the-state-putting-the-power-to-bully-into/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae3/gore-vidal-466_apes_there-is-something-about-the-state-putti_624334.jpg)

> [I think the Chinese will say the hell with you and pull their money out of the United States. That's the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-think-the-chinese-will-say-the-hell-with-you-and-pull-their-money/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac3/gore-vidal-466_china_i-think-the-chinese-will-say-the-hell-wi_2405411.jpg)

> [We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-are-the-united-states-of-amnesia-we-learn-nothing-because-we/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/gore-vidal-466_amnesia_we-are-the-united-states-of-amnesia-we-l_2048889.jpg)

> [On 16 September 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/on-16-september-1985-when-the-commerce-department-announced-that-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/gore-vidal-466_american-empire_on-16-september-1985-when-the-commerce-d_3044111.jpg)

> [I am savage about what has been done to the United States by its rulers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-am-savage-about-what-has-been-done-to-the-united-states-by-its/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96f/gore-vidal-466_done_i-am-savage-about-what-has-been-done-to_2441819.jpg)

> [The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country — and we haven't seen them since.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-united-states-was-founded-by-the-brightest-people-in-the-country/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/08d/gore-vidal-466_country_the-united-states-was-founded-by-the-bri_1906640.jpg)

> [I'd like to see a revival of state legislatures, in which I am a true Jeffersonian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-d-like-to-see-a-revival-of-state-legislatures-in-which-i-am-a-true/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e8b/gore-vidal-466_legislature_i-d-like-to-see-a-revival-of-state-legis_2338445.jpg)

> [I'm a true reactionary. Like all patricians, I'd like to restore the original republic, which we lost 40 years ago when Harry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-m-a-true-reactionary-like-all-patricians-i-d-like-to-restore-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c75/gore-vidal-466_century_i-m-a-true-reactionary-like-all-patricia_2562984.jpg)

> [I was the first - I was extremely unpopular with the establishment of the United States, particularly the New York Times was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-was-the-first-i-was-extremely-unpopular-with-the-establishment-of/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/774/gore-vidal-466_enemy_i-was-the-first-i-was-extremely-unpopula_2552651.jpg)

> [If you're a critic of the rulers of the United States, you are either demonized, or you are trivialized by the press,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/if-you-re-a-critic-of-the-rulers-of-the-united-states-you-are-either/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2ea/gore-vidal-466_critics_if-you-re-a-critic-of-the-rulers-of-the_3202922.jpg)

> [The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-corporate-grip-on-opinion-in-the-united-states-is-one-of-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c4/gore-vidal-466_country_the-corporate-grip-on-opinion-in-the-uni_2407023.jpg)

> [Without communism ... our state lacks a Wizard of Oz to terrify all the people all the time. So the state looks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/without-communism-our-state-lacks-a-wizard-of-oz-to-terrify-all-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f6/gore-vidal-466_communism_without-communism-our-state-lacks-a-wiza_2189754.jpg)

> [Instead of finding alternative energy sources, we try to subjugate entire regions of the world. People do not understand that by doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/instead-of-finding-alternative-energy-sources-we-try-to-subjugate/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f41/gore-vidal-466_absolutes_instead-of-finding-alternative-energy-so_1328406.jpg)

> [Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/many-people-in-the-united-states-happen-to-believe-that-united-states/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/812/gore-vidal-466_believe_many-people-in-the-united-states-happen_7054.jpg)

> [Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and thus drive out of business…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/big-oil-big-steel-big-agriculture-avoid-the-open-marketplace-big/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/299/gore-vidal-466_agriculture_big-oil-big-steel-big-agriculture-avoid_809677.jpg)

> [There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/702/gore-vidal-466_adjustment_there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-st_1290.jpg)

> [To hear two American men congratulating each other on being heterosexual is one of the most chilling experiences - and unique to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/to-hear-two-american-men-congratulating-each-other-on-being/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f01/gore-vidal-466_bed_to-hear-two-american-men-congratulating_1801556.jpg)

> [The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-noble-experiment-brought-on-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/294/gore-vidal-466_able_the-period-of-prohibition-called-the-nob_663381.jpg)

> [Whether you have an abortion, what you put in your own body, with whom you have sex - these are not affairs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/whether-you-have-an-abortion-what-you-put-in-your-own-body-with-whom/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/214/gore-vidal-466_abortion_whether-you-have-an-abortion-what-you-pu_1203746.jpg)

> [This might explain why Obama gave billions to Wall Street crooks, and dragged the Iraq and Afghan wars on and on. Happily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-might-explain-why-obama-gave-billions-to-wall-street-crooks-and/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e7/gore-vidal-466_afghan_this-might-explain-why-obama-gave-billio_2746381.jpg)

> [It is astonishing to think that millions of people in my time—now, too, I suppose—actually thought that at a given moment in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-astonishing-to-think-that-millions-of-people-in-my-time-now-too/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/314/gore-vidal-466_given_it-is-astonishing-to-think-that-millions_731748.jpg)

> [The American press exists for one purpose only, and that is to convince Americans that they are living in the greatest and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-american-press-exists-for-one-purpose-only-and-that-is-to/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c8d/gore-vidal-466_american-people_the-american-press-exists-for-one-purpos_2184540.jpg)

> [Where there is no desire or pursuits, there is no wholeness. But there are satisfying lesser states, fragments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/where-there-is-no-desire-or-pursuits-there-is-no-wholeness-but-there/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a9/gore-vidal-466_desire_where-there-is-no-desire-or-pursuits-the_953233.jpg)

> [There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and-2/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e9/gore-vidal-466_democrat_there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-st_2646059.jpg)

> [The United States is my subject, but as Hawthorne once wrote, "the United States are suited for many admirable purposes, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-united-states-is-my-subject-but-as-hawthorne-once-wrote-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b16/gore-vidal-466_admirable_the-united-states-is-my-subject-but-as-h_2010237.jpg)

> [In almost every case (where the United States has fought wars) our overwhelming commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights has required…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/in-almost-every-case-where-the-united-states-has-fought-wars-our/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/gore-vidal-466_cases_in-almost-every-case-where-the-united-st_2506313.jpg)

> [I said, well, it's a very primitive country, the United States, and it's full of superstitions, which come out of a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-said-well-it-s-a-very-primitive-country-the-united-states-and-it-s/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b41/gore-vidal-466_bias_i-said-well-it-s-a-very-primitive-countr_3208137.jpg)

> [I'd say that Holland, Sweden, and Denmark are all better countries politically than the United States. The average person is far better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-d-say-that-holland-sweden-and-denmark-are-all-better-countries/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/gore-vidal-466_average_i-d-say-that-holland-sweden-and-denmark_2954625.jpg)

> [Private lives should be no business of the State. The State is bad enough as it is. It cannot educate or medicate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/private-lives-should-be-no-business-of-the-state-the-state-is-bad/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/785/gore-vidal-466_business_private-lives-should-be-no-business-of-t_2937458.jpg)

> [When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the masses…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/when-you-control-opinion-as-corporate-america-controls-opinion-in-the/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84b/gore-vidal-466_america_when-you-control-opinion-as-corporate-am_1997669.jpg)

## Other authors on States

## More by Gore Vidal

> [There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/there-is-only-one-party-in-the-united-states-the-property-party-and/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct in wanting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/many-people-in-the-united-states-happen-to-believe-that-united-states/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [“It is curious how little interested we are in the sexual desires of those who do not attract us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-little-interested-we-are-in-the-sexual-desires-of/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-separation-was-absolute-in-our-original-republic-but-the-sky/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/style-is-knowing-who-you-are-what-you-want-to-say-and-not-giving-a/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [The oligarchs think that the people are both dangerous and stupid. Their point is moot. But we do know that the oligarchs are a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-oligarchs-think-that-the-people-are-both-dangerous-and-stupid/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [It is curious how often one prefers his enemies to his friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/it-is-curious-how-often-one-prefers-his-enemies-to-his-friends/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/as-societies-grow-decadent-the-language-grows-decadent-too-words-are/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [Rome ... at its most decadent, had never thought of hiring an actor to go through the motions of being an emperor while the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/rome-at-its-most-decadent-had-never-thought-of-hiring-an-actor-to-go/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [History is nothing but gossip about the past, with the hope that it might be true.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/history-is-nothing-but-gossip-about-the-past-with-the-hope-that-it/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/the-malady-of-civilized-man-is-his-knowledge-of-death-the-good-artist/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [Sex is a continuum. You go through different phases along life's way... and if you don't, you've been sort of cheated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/sex-is-a-continuum-you-go-through-different-phases-along-life-s-way/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [All I want is that Americans still be able to read the alphabet in a hundred years. I am not very ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/all-i-want-is-that-americans-still-be-able-to-read-the-alphabet-in-a/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [I do not admire 'the people,' as such. No one really does. Their folk wisdom is usually false, their instincts predatory. Even their sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/i-do-not-admire-the-people-as-such-no-one-really-does-their-folk/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

> [“One of the problems of a society as tightly controlled as ours is that we get so little information about what those of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/one-of-the-problems-of-a-society-as-tightly-controlled-as-ours-is/)

[Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/)

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                        "text": "The United States was founded by the brightest people in the country — and we haven't seen them since.",
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                        "text": "I'd like to see a revival of state legislatures, in which I am a true Jeffersonian.",
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                        "text": "I'm a true reactionary. Like all patricians, I'd like to restore the original republic, which we lost 40 years ago when Harry Truman imposed the national security state on us, which has kept us at war, hot or cold, for almost half a century, and it's got us $4 trillion into debt.",
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                        "text": "The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity - much less dissent.",
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                        "text": "Without communism ... our state lacks a Wizard of Oz to terrify all the people all the time. So the state looks inward, at the true enemy, who turns out to be - who else? the people of the United States.",
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                        "text": "Instead of finding alternative energy sources, we try to subjugate entire regions of the world. People do not understand that by doing this, the United States are going to absolute ruin.",
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                        "text": "Many people in the United States happen to believe that United States policy is wrong in Vietnam and the Vietcong are correct in wanting to organize their country in their own way politically. This happens to be pretty much the opinion of western Europe and the other parts of the world.",
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                        "text": "Big oil, big steel, big agriculture avoid the open marketplace. Big corporations fix prices among themselves and thus drive out of business the small entrepreneur. Also, in their conglomerate form, the huge corporations have begun to challenge the very legitimacy of the state.",
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                        "text": "There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party...and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt - until recently... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties.",
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                        "text": "To hear two American men congratulating each other on being heterosexual is one of the most chilling experiences - and unique to the United States. You don't hear two Italians sitting around complimenting each other because they actually like to go to bed with women. The American is hysterical about his manhood.",
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                        "text": "The period of Prohibition - called the noble experiment - brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order the United States has known until today. I think there is a lesson here. Do not regulate the private morals of people. Do not tell them what they can take or not take. Because if you do, they will become angry and antisocial and they will get what they want from criminals who are able to work in perfect freedom because they have paid off the police.",
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                        "text": "Whether you have an abortion, what you put in your own body, with whom you have sex - these are not affairs of the state. A government does not exist to control the citizens. When it does, it is a tyranny, and must be fought. The tree of liberty, Jefferson warned us, must be refreshed with the blood of tyrants and patriots.",
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                        "text": "This might explain why Obama gave billions to Wall Street crooks, and dragged the Iraq and Afghan wars on and on. Happily for the busy lunatics who rule over us, we are permanently the United States of Amnesia. We learn nothing because we remember nothing... We have ceased to be a nation under law but instead a homeland where the withered Bill of Rights, like a dead trumpet vine, clings to our pseudo-Roman columns.",
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                        "text": "The American press exists for one purpose only, and that is to convince Americans that they are living in the greatest and most envied country in the history of the world. The Press tells the American people how awful every other country is and how wonderful the United States is and how evil communism is and how happy they should be to have freedom to buy seven different sorts of detergent.",
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                        "text": "The United States is my subject, but as Hawthorne once wrote, \"the United States are suited for many admirable purposes, but not to live in.\"",
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                        "text": "In almost every case (where the United States has fought wars) our overwhelming commitment to freedom, democracy and human rights has required us to support those regimes that would deny freedom, democracy and human rights to their own people.",
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                        "text": "I'd say that Holland, Sweden, and Denmark are all better countries politically than the United States. The average person is far better off in one of those countries than he is in the United States and poverty of the sort that we have is absolutely unknown in Northern Europe.",
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                        "text": "Private lives should be no business of the State. The State is bad enough as it is. It cannot educate or medicate or feed the people; it cannot do anything but kill the people. No State like that do we want prying into our private lives.",
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                        "text": "When you control opinion, as corporate America controls opinion in the United States by owning the media, you can make the masses believe almost anything you want, and guide them as you please.",
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