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"The effect of the administration's concentration on war and terror has been to prevent the public from focusing on these issues," Mr. Pope said. "Now, when I hold focus groups with the general public and tell them what has been done, they exclaim, 'How could this have happened without me knowing about it?' "
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because the public is largely clueless and generally believes what they are told without questioning (John Perry Barlow was right)....
every time "war" is declared on some abstract concept, it ends up being a blank check for all sorts of excesses by government. whether it's the "war" on terror, or drugs, or poverty, you can be sure of several things:
a) it's not winnable, therefore it can be perpetuated indefinitely (how do you declare victory over a concept?)
b) the "war" will suck billions of taxpayer dollars into some black hole with little results and no accountability
c) the "war" will be used to justify all kinds of government intrusions that generally involve from some curtailment of civil liberties
d) critics will be marginalized with nonsensical arguments that generally invoke a "we're at war" theme, which inherently means that anything goes and the end justifies the means.
our current flavor of war is the "war on terror" - i can absolutely guarantee you that, not in your lifetime or your children's lifetime, will this war be won.
beware of war on abstract concepts
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