Word: Lewis Mumford

"The pathology of the Power Complex expresses itself publicly in two forms: magnification and mummification. As with the colossal statues that dominated the palaces of ancient Egypt and Babylonia, the same effect is produced for the more ephemeral absolute rulers of our own time in blown-up photographs, while by radio, television, and telephoto the image of Big Brother, by sheer repetition and multiplication, becomes inescapable. But the end product of this fraudulent inflation is a mummy: a corpse preserved in Egyptian fashion, placed in a tomb for public worship." ~from The Pentagon of Power, by Lewis Mumford

Though used bookstores will occasionally carry Mumford in their stocks, sadly many people nowadays don't know him or read him. Which is not surprising, given the short memories of the chattering nabobs of either end of the political spectrum.