You have it utterly backwards. In my experience, clearance holders have a far more bleak outlook on government than you. If you think people will elect madmen a

You have it utterly backwards. In my experience, clearance holders have a far more bleak outlook on government than you. If you think people will elect madmen and witch hunters no matter what, which seems to be the case, you might as well make sure the spy-fest is good enough to stop the occassional war. In this view there are not well-meaning plans with collateral damage, but planned crass destruction with collateral benefits. Incidentally, the U.S. system is strongly anti-authoritarian. There is no wise man or even thug running the show, just a parliament of whores tarting themselves up for the next election. We could really use some authorities in charge. Even a bad plan would be better than what we have if we just stuck to it.