Wendell Berry Quotes
Let us have the candor to acknowledge that what we call "the economy" or "the free market" is less and less distinguishable from warfare.
Berry, Wendell. "The Idea of a Local Economy." In the Presence of Fear: Three Essays for a Changed World. Orion Society, 2001, p. 17.
This quotation is often cited as it presages the concept of the Military Industrial Complex that was given by President Eisenhower in 1961--{641114}. It is not known whether Eisenhower had read or was briefed on this Mills quotation.
To a great extent, the same is true in our modern world.
This was one of the blackest marks on the Reagan Presidency. The Congress had voted sanctions against the racist, dictatorial government of South Africa as many other countries had done. However Reagan opposed the sanctions, although he claimed that he opposed apartheid and the general human rights denial of South Africa, he opposed doing anything about it that might change the situation. To many this was like saying one is opposed to marital rape but refusing to pass legislation to make it illegal. Congress, then passed the sanctions bill overriding the President’s veto.
[The metaphor of the stone tablets revers to Moses coming down the mountain and his interaction with God, carrying the 10 Commandments carved in stone tablets.]
Wendell Erdman Berry is an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer. He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, a recipient of The National Humanities Medal, and the Jefferson Lecturer for 2012. He is also a 2013 Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Berry was named the recipient of the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. On January 28, 2015, he became the first living writer to be inducted into the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.
