I'm glad you pointed this out, as I was going to express something similar. I don't know that I would classify the pot as "hot", but at the same time I'm glad J

I'm glad you pointed this out, as I was going to express something similar. I don't know that I would classify the pot as "hot", but at the same time I'm glad Jacques tempered his opinion with the following: If a dictator should come to power (which you can never really rule out, even in a democracy) then that may change but it won't change overnight. I completely agree with that, as did Thomas Jefferson apparently: The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. and The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Under the Bush administration we got the Patriot Act, warrant-less wiretaps, torture, and the repeal of habeas corpus (the right to due process which had to be reversed by the Supreme Court). There was a thread before on HN about some new Orwellian syle video from the DHS featuring Secretary Napolitano admonishing shoppers at checkouts in Walmarts to keep on the lookout for anything suspicious. At airports we are now forced to either be exposed to a radiation laden scan of our body, or intrusive physical pat down whenever we take a flight, no matter that we've done nothing wrong. Indeed, you risk being arrested [1] with this direct challenge to the Fourth Amendment which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures if you don't submit to it. So while I agree with Jacques that Americans are much farther from any revolt than the people of Tunisia or Egypt, and I wouldn't say there is a pot which is boiling, or maybe even hot, I also think it's a mistake to imagine there is no pot at all. [1] http://noblasters.com/post/1650102322/my-tsa-encounter http://noblasters.com/post/1650102322/my-tsa-encounter