The Tyranny of Evil Men

Dan Gillmor points us to an interesting Washington Post article about the potential scale of the torture scandal and who, ultimately, can do something about it. We can.

Of course "we" are distracted, disenfranchised, disillusioned and unmotivated. And our democratic leaders know it. The behavior of this administration seems to indicate that our elected leaders no longer feel they are accountable; they no longer fear reprisals from the People. Thus it seems that some (certainly not all and probably not most) no longer feel the obligation to serve them.

If this ambivalence continues we will indeed get the government we deserve and the concepts of the "american dream" or "government by the people" will become as empty as that of "public service."

There is a new urgency that surrounds the upcoming election. We have to become the defenders of democracy because our highest officials seem to have lost the motivation, or even the ability, to do so.