"Tis true, I pay my debts when they'r contracted;
I steal from no man; would not cut a Throat
To gain admission to a great man's purse,
Or a Whores bed; I'de not betray my Friend,
To get his Place or Fortune: I scorn to flatter
A Blown-up Fool above me, or crush the wretch beneath me,
Yet, Jaffeir, for all this, I am a Villain!

Jaff. A Villain--

Pierre. Yes a most notorious Villain:
To see the suffrings of my fellow Creatures,
And own my self a Man: To see our Senators
Cheat the deluded people with a shew
Of Liberty, which yet they ne'r must taste of;
They say, by them our hands are free from fetters,
Yet whom they please they lay in basest bonds;
Bring whom they please to Infamy and Sorrow;
Drive us like wracks down the rough Tide of Power,
Whilst no hold's left to save us from Destruction;
All that bear this are Villains; and I am one,
Not to rouse up at the great Call of Nature,
And check the Growth of these Domestick Spoilers,
That makes us slaves and tells us 'tis our Charter."

--Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd (1682)

Postmodern totalitarianism depends upon, among
other Orwellianisms, "Freedom is Slavery", in a very
precise way: we demand--
   the 'freedom' not to have to think
(leave it to the experts & intellectuals)
   & the 'freedom' not to have to feel
(bad feelings, but anesthetics don't discriminate)
      --and shape our politics
accordingly. Television democracy is like a fool's dream of anarchy
--how to give as little responsibility as possible to most everyone.
And thus real freedom seems to consist...of maximizing your
hassles. Who wants that?
  America is a rotting corpse because Americans aspire
to the condition of maggots.