The senator: “But what if you start tampering with the facts, twisting the truth
to further a particular cause or client? You’ll wind up serving your client,
but swindling the public.”
Eaton:
“You’re saying…”
The senator: “I’m saying that taking public opinion is useful, making public
opinion is dangerous. Alan, do you have any idea how many highly financed,
full-time organizations we now have set up here in Washington to pressure
Congress and government agencies for their particular groups and clients?”
Eaton:
“The right of the people to petition the government…”
The senator: “No question about it. And that right must be maintained. But it’s a
far cry from one citizen’s three-cent stamped appeal to the professionally
packaged campaign, complete from fake front groups with high-sounding titles to
pre-written laws ready for our signature and endorsement.”
Eaton:
“If money still talks, senator, the little three-cent stamp must have a hard
time being heard.”
That’s from The Fearmakers, a 1958 suspense melodrama
starring Dana Andrews about the sinister side of public relations. Talk about
your unheeded warnings.
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