…from a couple of centuries ago, by a man with whom some folks might still be familiar today. Edmund Burke was speaking, here, about the then newly done French Revolution.
They were possessed with a spirit of proselytism in the most fanatical degree, – and from thence, by an easy progress, with the spirit of persecution according to their means. What was not to be done towards their great end by any direct or immediate act might be wrought by a longer process through the medium of opinion. To command that option, the first step is to establish a dominion over those who direct it. They contrived to possess themselves, with great method and perseverance, of all avenues to literary fame. Many of them, indeed, stood high in the ranks of literature and science. The world had done them justice, and in favor of general talents forgave the evil tendency of their peculiar principles. This was true liberality, which they returned by endeavoring to confine the reputation of sense, learning, and taste to themselves or their followers.
–Edmund Burke
Sounds like an apt description of what’s going on today in our own nation.
h/t Ricochet, whose poster first had much the same thought.