“These men - ..., the politicians, ... - use their position, their knowledge, and their power of disseminating misinformation to arouse and stimulate the latent instinct for bloodshed. When they have succeeded, they say they are reluctantly forced to war by the pressure of public opinion.”

I don't know about a latent instinct for bloodshed, - but politicians manufacture false information, in a number of ways, & people believe it. That the media is too often censured, adds to the problem.

In the absence of the constraining influence of virtue, politicians, characteristically, are little more than personifications of the character frailties of their constituents, lamentably.

The chattel of today's Amerika have learned well by misinformation - their slave's position in the welfare state of the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land. The theocratic seminaries (government schools) have proselyted a new generation of thugs, stimulating and arousing a latent instinct for bloodshed as witnessed by current political fervor (mere disagreements in choice of politicos leading to violence and bloodshed). Amerika's (socialism = communism, fascism, progressiveism, democratic, etc.) continuing war culture is becoming more and more pressured by public opinion.

While in the liberty/individual sovereign/constitutional movement for many years, I personally witnessed the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land, with its minions - theocratic seminaries (pre-K through college), theocratic evangelists (the entire media) and plants within the movement explode in volumes of disseminating misinformation.

A major P.S. The oligarchy administrating the misinformed socialists of Amerika live by a few of their profits words. First, "Religion is the opiate of the masses" (Karl Marx). And then, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth" (Vladimir Lenin) The oligarchical gods to the occupying statist theocracy infesting this land has succeeded in their misinformation (and outright lies) proselyting for a need of force and a war mentality (local to foreign) to gain a pressure of public opinion.

A second P.S. and I almost apologize for the passion I display on this subject. Examples of the occupying statist theocracy's misinformation leading to pressure of public opinion are: causes for climate change are bringing about legislation that would make it a criminal offense if you don't believe the misinformation; and, "inalienable rights" are no longer expressions of the individual being but rather, edicts of the statist theocrcy's dogmas - right to kill babies, the lgbt have rights superior to normal humans, etc., etc., etc., and, legal positivism supersedes the laws of nature and of nature's God.

BR, I couldn't have said it better - Problem, Reaction, Solution - Love it! and they get away with it every time! Why are the masses so blind?

Wow, Mike, right on -- you are on a roll today!

Without the force of the media, the politician would be essentially powerless.