Things To Keep In Mind As The New Year Approaches - 8 of 20

8. Believe in truth. 

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. 

If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. 

If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. 

The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.
 

Yale historian and Holocaust expert Timothy Snyder wrote: "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so." 
Snyder's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (which includes former Secretaries of State), and consults on political situations around the globe. He says: 

Above, #8 of twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today.