Alexander Solzhenitsyn Quote 

"In our country, the lie has become
not just a moral category
but a pillar of the State."

by:
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
(1918-2008) Russian novelist, Soviet dissident, imprisoned for 8 years for critizing Stalin in a personal letter, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1970
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The lie has become the pillar of the State in America also.
 -- A Taylor, Pittsboro, NC		 
In continuing support: "A lie told often enough becomes the truth" (Lenin) the US and its subordinate districts (the several states, counties, cities, etc.), have made full use of the soviet state's pillar, along with its initial 10 planks, to implement the current de facto form of despotism.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Eloquently put, Mike. We are living in an illusion, the illusion of freedom.
 -- J Carlton, Calgary		 
Taylor, Mike, and Carlton, you all nailed it.
 -- jim k, austin		 
I think you first four guys are either liars or extremely uninformed. The Soviet State was founded on a lie. The lie was that it was a revolution of the people. It was not it was a dictatorship imposed from on high. America was founded differently and exists differently. In American freedom every body lies all the time so they cancel each other out and argue, thus their is no one party line. In Russia one big lie dictated that every body fall in line and submit to the party. Mike way to go 'ol man you here admit for the first time that the states are subordinate in the US. (I won't say that your old position was lie just illinformed.)
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
Mmmm that rings a bell! Waffler, I see you are stirring the pot again - well at least it keeps it lively. The Soviet State was not founded on a lie it became a lie. You could say that America was founded on a lie and some would agree but the intent was honorable with regard to their belief. Carlton hit the nail on the head "our freedom is an illusion".
 -- RobertSRQ		 
Waffler, lol, I'm still lol. The U.S. started out a free nation. And, within just a short time had implemented a constitutional form of government, the likes of which I haven't found in all of history. It is the Soviet-sized lie that removed such constitutional government from We The People to make us / We united subordinate inferiors (states, counties, cities, We The People, etc.) to the alien sovereign god, i.e. the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, foreign ethos. (-; almost a good try to twist what I said ;-)
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Waffler, you called me 'ol man, did I mention I just had a new grandchild last week. I'm off to see the newest freeman in the line. Thanks. ;-)
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Well, I don't think there is any more evidence to all this than to look at a few presidents: Nixon, Clinton and Bush Jr.
 -- RKA, Wasilla, AK		 
If one confuses 'freedom' with 'all-powerful' then yes freedom is an illusion -- afterall, we do have needs, so therefore we are dependent on fulfilling them. A child is born free, but dependent upon his mother, yes? You could as easily say there is no 'Truth' or that the Truth is whatever you say it is (a general 'liberal' concept). But the truth is the truth whether we know it or not. When honesty becomes a pillar of the People, then Truth may reign -- until then, there is no avoiding the consequences of living a lie. When lies are treated as gospel, the pillars will eventually fall from their own weight -- why do you think they say 'the truth shall set you free'? If you do not think you are free, I suggest taking a look within oneself and seeking out the lies to which you hold dear as truth. I am free -- and life is not without its risks.
 -- E Archer, NYC		 
Robert I have heard a recent analysis of the October Revolution. It states that the thing was not a revolution of the people and certainly not a creeping socialism or communism as Marx preferred or predicted but a "revolution" and a dictatorship of a small clique. Stalin certainly solidified that fact. Palace revolts and putsch's are common throughtout history but they don't meet my definition of a true revolution in which a majority of the people are involved and see the light. Thus some say the Soviet thing was a lie from the beginning.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
 -- Ken, Allyn, WA		 
I like to think that I am free, my heart feels free but my brain knows that we really are not free at all. If I am (truly free) why do I need a permit to make an improvement on my home, permission to take my own tree down, on my own proprety, a licence to drive, hunt, and fish etc? Why is a free man told when, and where, he can do these things, and how many you can catch or shoot? Why do I need to register everything from my car to my gun even myself while illegal invaders are allowed to run amuck. Freedoms are something you have that cannot be taken away. Liberties are granted and can be revoked at whim. By definition we are people that have been granted some liberties by our big brother, and he will remove them at will if the mood so strikes him. I want to be free, I wish that I was free, but I know that today, the goons can come and round up anyone that they want, when ever they want. They no longer need a search warant. They now can get one after the search is made. Wake up America, or you will die in your sleep.
 -- Ken, Milford Pa		 
Ken you write so intelligently I can not believe that you do not understand the limits that are placed upon your hunting and fishing rights. You certainly are aware that if all could hunt and fish without any community oversight we or one or several individuals would corner the market and deplete all of the game. Hell the Native Americans were smart enough to know that. How do people get so lost that they don't understand that? The idea that the wild animals and fish belong to the community or state and prior to that to the Kings is a very old principle. So it is a modern Big Brother idea.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
Waffler, spoken like a shallow communist that has not thought the issue through and, your retort displays a desire to give up one's sovereignty to an enslaving intangible ethos. The community and state, under a people that recognize personal responsibility ordered by the God of Nature's laws, are in reality nothing more than designations of the individual's relationships - the individual remaining sovereign. If the individual can not own it personally, neither can the community or the state. How do people get so lost that they don't understand that? If there be a natural order to science, life, etc. on this planet (and there is), it is up to the individual(s) to discover the law(s) that relate thereto and live by it/them individually and in concert. Waffler, your inference is that this ever elusive community mind and/or intangible ethos state is the natural, independent, and inherent purveyor of the God of Nature - it is not. We The individual People are to discover what those laws are and pass codes, rules, regulations, statutes in harmony therewith. The Native Americans were smart enough to know that. Under your scenario, if the community or state decided it wanted all the animals dead, it wouldn't make it anymore right, than if one or several individuals would deplete all the game.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
As a P.S., in our country, the lie that the community, state, or government in any form has become an independent sovereign with ability to create law and define morality is the primary pillar propping up the despotic State.
 -- Mike, Norwalk		 
Mike, Mike, Mike it has nothing to do with politics or political philosophy. Get a grip man and then get a life. It has everything to do with economics which I feel positive that you must be unaware is the science of scarce resources. And all resources are becoming scarcer and scarcer with the success of one only one species (homo sapiens) and the relative demise of all of the others. Mike you talk garbage as usual "We The Individual People" is truly the most oxymoronic garbage I have ever seen in print. "We" is a plural pronoun, "Individual" refers to a single person, "People" is a plurar or collective noun. Only you Mike could f$#% up this badly. I am sure you are to uneduacted or unthinking to have ever heard of wars over scarce resources such as water rights out west etcetera ad infiitum. These things have nothing to do with your BS warped ideas of politics or freedom and everything to do with economics pure and simply. But I expect no better from you now or in the future. In the quote concerning never getting enough of what we don't need you showed your true colors, you may not consider yourself a left wing dictator just a right wing one but in any event willing to dictate to people what they need and how much of it they need. I really don't why I hang it there. This is so intellectually disapponting.
 -- Waffler, Smith, Arkansas		 
I understand that we can't all just do whatever we want to do. We have responsibility to ourselves as well as to each other. My point was just an analogy to advise that we have liberties and not freedoms. Our constitution gave the people freedoms and the government liberties, but because most people do not understand the fact, and the difference, we are loosing those freedoms and they are being replaced with liberties. Why does the government require me to use a seat belt in my car, but school children on a school bus are not ever provided with one? Could it be that it would cost the government money to install? Then how do they order me to have and use one at risk of punishment at the hands of that government that doesn't think it is important enough to provide to our children? When will the bathtub police be checking your home for a non slip mat? Where do the intrusions to our freedoms end? It is happening in stages now so that we can be conditioned for the big ones later down the road. More freedoms have been lost by gradual usurpations then have ever been lost by force of arms.
 -- Ken, Milford Pa		 
So true for dems especially. You're right Waffler.
 -- warren, olathe		 
The tribe will go hungry and perish if they violate fundamental laws of nature (i.e. over fishing or over hunting). That is the way of Nature. Living in harmony with nature was fundamental with the Native Americans (not the European-Americans). The point is that either we take responsibility and actually endeavor to be in harmony with nature as a personal 'path' or force rules upon one another that simply favor one band over another (whomever has the most 'power') and call it 'the law.' When the ruling body then ignores the laws of nature and uses its collective power to enforce its destructive will, we still perish if we do not dethrone the tyranny. It is the never-ending story of humankind: live in harmony with the laws of nature, or perish. But as soon as that is forced upon by another's will, it has been lost. The avoidance of responsibility and accountability is what indeed enslaves us.
 -- E Archer, NYC		 
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