Noam Chomsky

An animating vision must rest on some conception of human nature, of what’s good for people, of their needs and rights, of the aspects of their nature that should be nurtured, encouraged and permitted to flourish for their benefit and that of others.

Both political parties have moved to the right during the neoliberal period. Today’s New Democrats are pretty much what used to be called ‘moderate Republicans’. The ‘political revolution’ that Bernie Sanders called for, rightly, would not have greatly surprised Dwight Eisenhower.

The internet provides access to an extraordinary range of information, opinion, and interpretation. But as with any source, it is useful to the extent that it is used with discrimination and insight.

So what the media do, in effect, is to take the set of assumptions which express the basic ideas of the propaganda system, whether about the Cold War or the economic system or the national interest and so on, and then present a range of debate within that framework-so the debate only enhances the strength of the assumptions, ingraining them in people’s minds as the entire possible spectrum of opinion that there is.

A basic principle of modern state capitalism is that costs and risks are socialized to the extent possible, while profit is privatized.

You could make a strong argument that all US military aid to Israel is in violation of US law. Take a look at the Leahy Amendment, which is US law. It says you can’t give any military aid to military units or organizations that are involved in systematic human rights’ abuses…

You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.

I think our Russian Football Union must play an active part in this… and develop a new generation of sportsmen and soccer players.

But we’re at a place in our political history when passing legislation through the House with bipartisan support is considered by some folks a greater evil than the problem it’s intended to solve.

GATT and NAFTA ought to be called “investor rights agreements,” not “free trade agreements.” One of their main purposes is to extend the ability of corporations to carry out market-distorting operations internally.

I think the cost of energy will come down when we make this transition to renewable energy.

In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the Sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.

One positive development might be the infrastructure program that Trump has promised while (along with much reporting and commentary) concealing the fact that it is essentially the Obama stimulus program that would have been of great benefit to the economy and to the society generally, but was killed by the Republican Congress on the pretext that it would explode the deficit..

If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don’t care about a person’s sexual orientation.

I hold it to be… a detestable maxim that, politically speaking, the people have a right to do anything.

Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small.

It is as hard and severe a thing to be a true politician as to be truly moral.

In war I would deal with the Devil and his grandmother

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

I hope that things will not come to provocations (during the soccer World Cup). If this happens I think it would have very serious consequences for the Ukrainian government in general.

A fundamental goal of U.S. policy towards Latin America (and elsewhere), long-standing and well-documented, is to take control of the police and military so as to assure that the population will not act upon unacceptable ideas.