It could have happened in the United States, but the war ended Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and little could revive it once peace came. Benn told Moore the reason why the cradle to grave welfare state never took hold in America.
"If the poor in Britain or the United States turned out and voted for people who represented their interests, it would be a real democratic revolution," Benn said. "So they don't want it to happen, so (they are) keeping people hopeless and pessimistic.
"See, I think there are two ways in which people are controlled: first of all, frighten people, and secondly, demoralize them.... An educated, healthy, and confident nation is harder to govern, and I think there's an element in the thinking of some people — we don't want people to be educated, healthy, and confident because they would get out of control.
"The top 1 percent of the world's population own 80 percent of the world's wealth. It's incredible that people put up with it — but — they're poor, they're demoralized, they're frightened, and therefore they think perhaps the safest thing to do is to take orders and hope for the best."
Fear and hopelessness are powerful things. They pretty much describe America in the 2000s. If the citizens of this nation were educated, healthy and confident, we wouldn't have a government that can come up with a half-trillion dollars for a war of choice in Iraq without blinking an eye, while blocking funding increases for Medicare and Medicaid.
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