They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves.
Calvin CoolidgeRead
Wherever despotism abounds, the sources of public information are the first to be brought under its control.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Despotism seeks to control information to maintain power.
This quote by Calvin Coolidge emphasizes the relationship between authoritarian rule and the censorship of information. When a despotic regime emerges, it often targets sources of information, such as the media or public communications, in order to manipulate or suppress the truth and maintain control over the populace. By limiting access to unbiased information, despots can easily influence public opinion and eliminate dissent, solidifying their power.
Themes
DespotismInformationControlCensorshipFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of a free press in democracy.
More from Calvin Coolidge
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America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.
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No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government. No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline.
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Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.
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The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.
Calvin CoolidgeRead
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