The fact is that no leader or government explicitly states his intention on bending the will of the people any more; they are apt to use new words which sound like the opposite of the old ones. No dictator calls himself a dictator, and every system claims that it expresses the will of the people. In the countries of the "free world", on the other hand, "anonymous authority" and manipulation have replaced overt authority in education, work, and politics.

(Erich Fromm "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness")