How to alienate oneself from God

“Nationalize as much as possible” to “make men love their country before their states.  All private interests, all local interests, all banking interests, the interests of individuals, everything, should be subordinate now to the interest of the Government.”
–Senator John Sherman, 1863 (Cited in Heather Cox Richardson, The Greatest Nation on the Earth, p. 87

Pretty disgusting, isn't it?