The Undoing of America -Gore Vidal

"You cannot have a political party that is not based upon a class interest. It has been part of the American propaganda machine that we have no class system. You could be president tomorrow. This isn't true. We have a very strong, very rigid class structure which goes back to the beginning of the country.

"If we don't have class interests officially, then therefore we have no political parties. What is the Republican Party? Well, it used to be the party of the small-town businessman, generally in the Middle West, generally sort of out of the mainstream. Very conservative. It now represents nothing but the gas and oil business. They own it.

"There is no people's party, and you can't even use the word. [The press] observes what those in power want it to observe, and turns the other way when things get dark. Then, when it's too late sometimes, you get some very good reporting. But by then, somebody's playing taps.