"If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual"

This quote by Frank Herbert is an alerting about the power of understanding. He suggests that if individuals consider themselves as helpless and unable to make a difference, they will produce a federal government that will make the most of them. This federal government will become their master, and the wise despot will use this perception of helplessness to preserve control. Herbert is warning us to be knowledgeable about our own power and to acknowledge that we can make a difference. He is also cautioning us to be cautious of those in power who may utilize our own beliefs versus us. We must understand our own potential and not enable ourselves to be benefited from.