>Correct me if I am wrong here, but I think we passed that point, some
>time back. When, I couldn't actually say. It is tempting to identify
>that transition with 9/11. But choosing that date would only validate
>the fraudulent premise that the US was a benevolent empire seeking
>to help an ungrateful and nasty world---some part of which
>evidently reacted to our benevolence with terrorist attacks.
>
>So how far back do we go? How deep is the rat hole?
Right back to the framers finding it necessary to add the bill of rights.