Eric Hoffer:
It is doubtful if the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power — power to oppress others. The oppressed want above all to imitate their oppressors; they want to retaliate.
Quoted in War and Conflict Quotations: A Worldwide Dictionary of Pronouncements from Military Leaders, Politicians, Philosophers, Writers and Others (1997) by Michael C. Thomsett and Jean F. Thomsett
And then from "True Believer" 1951 there is this:
The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility.
And then from Section 33 of "The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)":
Pride is a sense of worth derived from something that is not organically part of us, while self-esteem derives from the potentialities and achievements of the self. We are proud when we identify ourselves with an imaginary self, a leader, a holy cause, a collective body or possessions. There is fear and intolerance in pride; it is sensitive and uncompromising. The less promise and potency in the self, the more imperative is the need for pride. The core of pride is self-rejection.
It is true that when pride releases energies and serves as a spur to achievement, it can lead to a reconciliation with the self and the attainment of genuine self-esteem.
Then from section 37 of that same book:
It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.
And finally from "The Temper of Our Time":
What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation.
Frequently misquoted as "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."
All of these quotes are from the Eric Hoffer page at
http://en.wikiquote.org/... . I started out looking for the last quote and found a virtual treasure chest of Eric Hoffer's ideas neatly packaged therein.
The question is: Where is DailyKos in it's evolution?
6:35 PM PT: Poll:Sorry folks, there should have been an "other" selection in the poll. Just put other in a comment heading as you may have a desire for amplification anyway.