What happened was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to be governed by surprise, to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believe that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. . .
To live in the process is absolutely not to notice it -- please try to believe me -- unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us ever had occasion to develop.
Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted.' . . . Believe me this is true. Each act, each occasion is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. . .
Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. . . You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.
--German professor describing arrival of Nazism to journalist Milton Mayer
It's all too true. If Bush drops 3 more points in his approval rating it will match his IQ. We are, and have been , sold a bill of goods which was so large in its intirety that most of us, Peter excluded of course, could not see it coming. This last appointment to the CIA ices it for me. Another lap dog supporting a corrupt administration. Perfect. He has severly damaged foreign policy and how we as a nation are perceived around the globe. He and the religious right can take a flying leap when it comes to governing our nation. And his handling of the war is the worst bite of a shit sandwich I have ever had to swallow as a voter and a citizen. Sadly, he understands one thing (or has been advised as such) that the American people will only retreat further into a "what can I do it's too late" mentality. He will continue to fiddle while Rome burns because he just threw another 70 billion in tax cuts at the fire department. And my party has no one on deck.
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