I especially admire the ending: “Simply by dint of wielding this inflated might, an administration, whether Republican or Democrat, demonstrates its true raison d

Outstanding work you’ve done here in chronicling our journey towards a fascist state. This is always how it happens–small, subtle steps that no one notices.

The populace is kept quiescent now almost from birth. As you astutely note, modern college kids are inundated with astonishing student loans, volunteer internships, credit card debt, and the culture of consumptive consumerism–anything to keep them from using their time to challenge the conventional wisdom. I’d argue that it goes back even farther–we dope our kids up on drugs designed to keep them quiet and passive, put them through shoddy educational arcs that focus on nothing but rote answers to tests, and send them right off to college and into the adult world without ever having a chance to really know what they want out of life. Is it any wonder they end up too miserable and preoccupied with their own lives to care about the larger picture?

Back to the main point–you don’t hear for calls for armed overthrow of the government for two reasons. One, people want to remain perceived as Sane and Reasonable. This will all end when Bush is finally out of office, they think. Whoever comes next will repeal the worst of his offenses and we’ll find that happy moderate center of politics again. Of course, we’ll still be in Iraq, still have exploding health care crises, still have these surveillance programs in operation, etc.

Second, the people most likely to rebel–the militias and such–are *with Bush*. As long as they have their guns and gays are oppressed, they care nothing about losing the freedoms they were ready to burn Clinton at the stake for.

Again, outstanding work. Preach it to the heavens.

What warrants surveillance as all-encompassing as Bush & Co. have instituted? Anti-globalization anarchists? MoveOn? Wait, it