wow!, just, wow! A fantastic piece.

EXCELLENT POST.

Well, once the middle class is gone and we join the ranks of the poor, we can work seven days a week, 24 hours a day for our masters. Oh, and that will include children because schooling will be a thing of the past and no longer important.

When people spout hatred and call themselves Christian, I tremble when they talk about "democracy" (as all our 'taken for granted' rights slip away)

Sharon, I agree.

There is one subject that has bothered me. We must be careful to not lump all Christians into the same catagory. I am a Christian, in fact this may come as a surprise, but I am one of those "born-again Christians." However, that doesn't mean I have lost my senses or my zeal for equal and fair treatment of all people. There are millions of Christians just like me who believe exactly like many on this board, including my Sister and 84 year old Mother. In fact, my Mother has been saying for four years that Bush is the most dangerous president of her lifetime.

Sometimes I gringe at some of the posts here when talking about Christians, but I also know people here have the right to their opinions. However, at times it makes me sad.

The only personal line I have drawn on this site are the trolls who call us, meaning liberals, traitors. I prefer to not interact with them to show my contempt. (probably an unChristian thing to do).

The only hope is people like you. More precisely, this blog and those who post on it have the to power to inform, and to do so after thoughtful analysis. The "new democracy" is possibly starting at our finger tips. The leaders are people like pessemist, Steve, CA Pol Junkie, Duckman, larre, Matt, Marie, Mary, paradox, soccerdad, Yuval, Judith, Sharon and the many others who take time to think about these issues and post here.

Every year of the Bush administration I get squeezed tighter by the failure of this band of theives to set rational policy. The recurring theme of the "ownership society" is that I'm losing more and more while others benefit from the ability to own what I once had an interest in.

The only past mistake the oligarchs made in their equation of greed was to let the masses get an education. Even now we see moves to tighten funding on post-secondary education that will make it more difficult for middle-class families to educate their children. And so the last assault is the most dangerous. Can they make us stupid enough to go along easily? The Red State voters prove were at this juncture as we speak.

Of course, we can't discount the education provided by "the school of hard knocks". With the new budget putting the squeeze on the exact same groups who supported this moron we have in office, we may see a sudden shift back to the middle. Either that, or the liver's of the rich are going to taste wonderful with fava beans and a nice chianti.

Sharon and Judith, I see it too. Last year I left a church that I had attended for 5 years and had once been the(unpaid)director of Sunday School studies at for political reasons. I have been attending a different church scince new year but I see signs of the same kind of absolutist certianity in some of the congregation at the new church.

I'm not one to hide my sense of right and wrong for the sake of 'social comfort.' Simply put, my God is bigger than political parties or movements and doesn't sit on a cloud mindlessly waving anyone's flag and cheering on the rich.

Whatever happened to the social gospel? Why is the religious right so blind that they can't see that the root of problems like abortion are economic? It is folly to protect life until birth and then leave it to the fate of the competency and personal wealth of its parents. I could talk about other issues too, there seems to be no end to their blindness to the false god of the right.

Phidipides, you can add your name to that list also.

Riprather, there are only two things I fear right now in my life. It is the far-right zealots and GWB.

I could not agree more with the article, and the comments here. The conservatives have managed to make the title liberal or progressive a negative. They have also taken sole claim to religion and all related definitions.

Without realizing it, we may have already slipped beyond even facism. Let me elaborate a little. Think about where this country has moved in just four short years. The Patriot Act, which no one disagrees curtails indiviual rights and liberties (even the neocons), was passed overwhelmingly. An Attorney General has been installed who has flatly stated that the President may be exempt from certain laws (with the support of even a number of Democrats). A classification has been created (enemy combatants) which is determined by one person only. This classification effectively suspends habeas corpus for the person so classified.

The courts have continued to rule against the Administration on these efforts, but from everything I've read, the Administration is simply ignoring the rulings.

The election outcome seems to indicate that a huge portion of the population can sit back and accept all of this, so long as there is some promise of greater security (be it real or imagined). The Republican Congress is sitting obidiently on their hands.

I don't know if we have started the slide down the slippery slope, but we are at best teetering on the edge.

I'm not a crazed conspiracy nut, but there is the possibility of the following scenario playing out.

I think we all know there WILL be another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. I believe this Administration will use that attack to suspend habeas corpus completely and declare marshall law. This is not without precedent in the U.S. None other than Abraham Lincoln did it. In fact, because the Supreme Court ruled against him, he had issued a warrant for the arrest of the Chief Justice. At least the Marshall given the warrant had the good sense to not serve it, thus preserving Lincoln's reputation.

I realize this makes me sound like a bit of a wingnut, but I can see a lot of conservatives no longer having strong objections to something like this. The Rove-Cheney machine has been incredible at crafting "the message," and I believe would be able to convince a significant number of Americans that this was for their own benefit. And I can see a lot of people going, "hell yeah."

I've never feared for the continuation of democracy in this country until now, and I believe it is in grave danger. There is really is no longer a free press acting as the guardian of democracy. The Congress is impotent, and losing power to the adminstration rapidly, and a big chunk of Americans are ready to hand it all over to W just because he's a plain-spoken, good 'ole boy, Christian...ordained for this job and granted a mandate by the red states.

Phid, Most of the wingnuts home school their children so they can isolate them from society and indoctrinate them with evangelical ideology. They are withdrawing from society because they fear the increasing multiculturalism and secularism of America, espcially urban America. Their withdrawal creates further suspicion and mistrust and the facist repugs gleefuly stoke the flames of their fear with threats of more terrorism, more immigration, etc. So it is easy for them to not value the environment, education or any other public interest or institution because the church and the rethugs are the only two institutions that they trust. Welcome to the Dark Ages.

Well, BJohnM you may be right.

A recent poll of U.S. high school students yielded these results. 50% thought that the government should have approval over what is published in newspapers, 30% thought that the government was monitoring the internet and should be. Do I hear 1930's Germany?

BJohnM. You are not being radical or wearing a tinfoil hat. We have discussed the possibility of Bush declaring Marshall Law several times on this Blog. In fact, there was quite a bit of discussion on that very subject prior to the presidential election. Your thinking seems to be directly in line with those of us who post here.

and let's export our bigotry to our northern neighbors....thanks to James Dobson

by the way, I read on dailykos that the eHarmony singles thing is affiliated with Dobson