"Nowhere do politicians
form a more separate, powerful section of the nation than in North America. There,
each of the two great parties which alternately succeed each other in power is
itself in turn controlled by people who make a business of politics, who
speculate on seats in the legislative assemblies of the Union as well as of the
separate states, or who make a living by carrying on agitation for their party
and on its victory are rewarded with positions.
It is well known that the
Americans have been striving for years to shake off this yoke, which has
become intolerable, and that in spite of all they can do they continue to sink
ever deeper in this swamp of corruption. It is precisely in America that we see
best how there takes place this process of the state power making itself
independent in relation to society, whose mere instrument it was originally
intended to be. Here there exists no dynasty, no nobility, no standing army,
beyond the few men keeping watch on the Indians, no bureaucracy with permanent
posts or the right to pensions. and nevertheless we find here two great gangs
of political speculators, who alternately take possession of the state power
and exploit it by the most corrupt means and for the most corrupt ends — and
the nation is powerless against these two great cartels of politicians, who are
ostensibly its servants, but in reality exploit and plunder it.
Engels…the civil war in france intro..1891
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