Bad government is largely made possible by the mistaken opinions held toward each other by the governing classes and the governed. By “governing classes” I don’t mean Presidents and Congresses. I mean the great capitalist interests that make Presidents and Congresses. The governing classes underestimate the intelligence of the people. That is why the governing classes are always in process of yielding something to the people. Depending upon the stupidity of the people, gross wrongs are inflicted that are righted only under force, inch by inch. The people, on the other hand, have too exalted an opinion of both the intelligence and the patriotism of those who control the government. They have no good opinion of the patriotic impulses of the great capitalists, but they fail to note that the great capitalists are the National government. Mr. Morgan in Wall street they recognize. But Mr. Morgan in Washington, disguised as Uncle Sam, they do not recognize. Therefore they behold him with a certain veneration. They have been taught, since childhood, to look up to Uncle Sam as to a father. He is the government in breeches. The people do not always agree with the men who govern them, but they always agree with the government. The grand old government of the United States looks good to them. It looks good to them because it seems to embody the power, the will and the virtue of the people. All of which is not true. No government is much better than the men who control it. If the men who control it are bad, the government is bad. If a few control it, the rest do not control it. If a few use it to get more than belongs to them, the rest cannot use it to get what belongs to them. If a few control the government to rob the rest of the people, the government is not the friend, but the enemy, of the rest of the people. The United States government is and long has been controlled by a few rich men. These men have used and are using the government to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the people. I do not mean so say that the government never performs an act that is of service to all of the people, but I do mean to say that when there is a conflict between the interests of the few who control the government and the interests of the rest of the people, the government is almost certain to take the side of the few as against the many.… The little guiding group of rich who tell you that a high tariff helps you is the same little guiding group that tells you a parcels post would hurt you. …