[quote="*jr"]The republic is in it's last throes. Yep, the US is a sad empty shell of what it once was or what it once proclaimed to be. Now we just see how long the death gurgle will last.
This excellent article by Chris Floyd explains why;
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Written by Chris Floyd
Sunday, 02 September 2007
Post-Mortem America: Bush's Year of Triumph and the Hard Way Ahead
It is, by any measure, a remarkable achievement, one of the greatest political feats ever. Despite Bush's standing as one of the most despised presidents in American history, despite a Congress in control of the opposition party, despite a solid majority opposed to his policies and his war, despite an Administration riddled with scandal and crime, despite the glaring rot in the nation's infrastructure and the callous abandonment of one of the nation's major cities to natural disaster and crony greed -- despite all of this, and much more that would have brought down or mortally wounded any government in a democratic country, the Bush Administration is now in a far stronger position than it was a year ago.
How can this be? The answer is simple: the United States is no longer a democratic country, or even a degraded semblance of one.
Again, look at the facts, the reality: Bush wants Congressional approval of his illegal surveillance; he gets it. Bush wants to launch spy satellites against the American people; he does it. Bush wants concentration camps and secret prisons with torture; he's got them. Bush wants to escalate a ruinous, murderous, unpopular war; he does it. He wants to declare people "enemy combatants" and imprison them indefinitely; he does it. Bush's spokesmen openly claim that the laws passed by the people's representatives are "just advisory" and "the president can still do whatever he wants to do," and there is no outcry, no action, no defense of the Republic against this overthrow of the Constitution.
http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1272/135/[/quote]
Although none of what you have pointed out is false the beauty of America is her dynamic nature. Next ones in will probably restore all the damage done by Bush's government.