Ignorance is king. Many would not profit by his abdication. Many enrich themselves by means of his dark monarchy. They are his Court, and in his name they defraud and govern, enrich themselves and perpetuate their power. Even literacy they fear, for the written word is another channel of communication that might cause their enemies to become united. Their weapons are keen-honed, and they use them with skill. They will press the battle upon the world when their interests are threatened, and the violence which follows will last until the structure of society as it now exists is leveled to rubble, and a new society emerges. I am sorry. But that is how I see it. Anonymous
About This Quote

The quote above has a lot of information crammed into a few words. The first two lines are from George Bernard Shaw, who wrote it in 1899. The third line is from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote it in 1787. In the early 19th century, the government of the United States had a monopoly on printing paper currency.

The government said that if you wanted to use paper currency for your business, you had to have a license from the government. Even then, people could still use gold and silver coins as currency, but only if they paid a fee to the government. That fee was called a tax. The fourth line is from a speech by Bertrand Russell, who spoke these words at Princeton University in 1950.

The final two lines come from another philosopher named Alfred North Whitehead. He wrote them in 1917. Russell and Whitehead were both arguing against the idea of taxation as a form of government control over people’s lives.

In their opinion, taxation should be used only for things like defense or institutions like schools or roads that benefit all people equally.

Source: A Canticle For Leibowitz

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