Whom the Gods Would Destroy. . .

. . . they first make mad with power, wrote historian Charles A. Beard. Meanwhile, in a recent TomDispatch, contemporary chronicler Tom Englehardt wrote:

". . . when critics concentrate on any specific issue or set of administration acts, no matter how egregious or significant, they invariably miss the point."

. . . which is that. . .

"Under George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their assorted advisers, acolytes, and zealots, a virtual cult of unconstrained presidential power has been constructed. . . For these cultists. . . the holy war, the "crusade" to be embarked upon was, above all, aimed at creating a President accountable to no one, overseen by no one, and restricted by no other force or power [from acting] as he saw fit."

In other words, terrorists embrace a cause and Special Forces their country, but a significant percentage of either grouping are just in it for the action. The administration professes to principles and goals, but the way it's changed them on the fly (their reasons for invading Iraq, for example) is the "tell" that their one constant is the appropriation and exercise of raw power. (Hit it, Stooges!)

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