"Sobriety itself is today's high, for it is ultimately in the most centered consciousness that we find our power to transcend the world."

Previous Quote

By the Reagan era, the 'culture of poverty' had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused not by low wages or a lack of jobs but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles. The poor were dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to 'defer gratification' or possibly even set an alarm clock. The last thing they could be trusted with was money.

— Barbara Ehrenreich