Justice For All

... not only in its material standards, but also in its spiritual vitality, ... Western civilization [has] been falling steadily and with increasing rapidity into ruin and desolation.  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost Of Discipleship, p. 34)

Whether you like it or not, everything that is happening at this moment is a result of the choices ... [we've] made in the past. (Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success, p. 40)

If you are an average citizen, don't expect Washington to address your concerns. (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Price Of Civilization, p. 64)

... the omission of information is the same as a lie. (Iylana Vanzant, Until Today!, 21 January)

[People often] ... choose to distort information in order to use it as a weapon to gain power.  (Craig Nakken, Finding Your Moral Compass, p. 69)

The way to correct distortions is to withdraw your faith in them and invest it only in what is true.  You cannot make untruth true.  (A Course In Miracles, Book 1, Chapter 3, II, 6, p. 39)

If you meet someone who claims to know "The Truth," turn and run away as fast as you can.  Pretending that "my truth" is "The Truth" is dangerous at best, evil at worst.  Those who claim to know "The Truth" are almost always looking for power and a way to control others.  They want us to submit to them and "their truth;" if we do this well enough and completely enough, we become one of the anointed "knowers" with special rights and privileges.  (Craig Nakken, Finding Your Moral Compass, p. 98-9)

Words, unless they come from the heart and soul and are followed by action, are pretense.  (Daniel H. Mundt in The Upper Room Disciplines - 2008, 31 May)

On issue after issue, Washington politics back the special interests rather than broad public values. (Jeffrey D. Sachs, The Price Of Civilization, p. 114)

Inequality is a way we seek to protect ourselves by placing ourselves in a superior position.  Once one has fallen in love with the sensations of power this brings, inequality will easily be justified.  Inequality works to preserve the "me" over the "we."  This is the most dangerous element of inequality.  Inequality creates separateness and marginalizes others.  (Craig Nakken, Finding Your Moral Compass, p. 102)

Men will never listen to one who preaches endurance from the comfort of an easy chair, nor to one who preaches heroic courage to others while he himself has sought a prudent safety. (William Barclay, The Revelation of John, Vol. 1, p. 39)

... why should you run your life on the basis of what others say. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Pulling Your Own Strings, p. 48)

... admitting and embracing our failures is painful, the inability to face them can be lethal.  (Johann Christoph Arnold, Escape Routes, p. 50-1)

Old habits are hard to break, and no one is easily led beyond his own point of view.  (Thomas 'A Kempis, The Imitation Of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 14)

Progress and growth are impossible if you always do things the way you've always done things. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Pulling Your Own Strings, p. 53)

Eventually everyone begins to recognize, however dimly, that there "must" be a better way.  (A Course In Miracles, p. 22)

... strength means being able to stop trying to get everyone else to feel what you are feeling, and stand up for what you believe. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Pulling Your Own Strings, p. 79)

It should be apparent that there will be no return to "normal," because the old normal got us into our present predicament and can't possibly get us out.  So what comes next? (Robert B. Reich, Aftershock, p. 75)

If nothing is done to counter present trends, the major fault line in American politics will no longer be between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.  It will be between the establishment -- political insiders, power brokers, the heads of American business, Wall Street, and the mainstream media -- and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to "take back America" from them.  Eventually the Independence Party, or its equivalent will prevail. (Robert B. Reich, Aftershock, p. 145)

[Fixing the mess we are in] ... is both an economic challenge and a moral challenge; concentrated income and wealth will threaten the integrity and cohesion of our society, and will undermine democracy. (Robert B. Reich, Aftershock, p. 65)

Enough is Enough (Mr. Dickie, 5 February 2012)