Conrad Crane told us so

Newspapers. We've known exactly what would happen to newspapers and exactly how it would happen since the early 1990s, at a minimum. And since the rise of the World Wide Web by the mid-'90s, we've know this would be the particular medium that killed off newspapers . . . NOT television, the medium about which editors everywhere obsessed. By that time, a legion of academic types were warning that newspapers had better figure out how to use the Internet and, specifically, had better figure out how to commercialize it . . . or else. Today, we have achieved "Else."

Joseph, I don't intend this to be snarky, but my jaw just bounced off the floor: how can you not describe both of Bush's terms as using explicit demands for blind deference? As for the reasonability of my take, my experience -- and personal bias, yes -- beg to differ with you... though I also like your take on it as well. Internal accountability is (I want to qualify precisely) the difference between a good business with happy customers and a small group of ever more wealthy fat cats profiting regardless of how the business is going. I see alot of unhappy customers in the US, including me. I don't see much in the way of consequences to the fat cats.

From reading "State of Denial," it seems clear that the more resistance Rumsfeld and his backers Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bush got--especially from the brass and the experts within the Pentagon--the more convinced they were of the rightness of their course. This is arrogance, as has been widely remarked, but I think it's more than that. I don't know what the right word would be. It's almost like some sort of adolescent tantrum. "Denial" is not a full enough description. Perhaps it's an obscure psychological condition.

There is everywhere evidence of this behavior. It's not Schumpeter, but a fellow student of Weber, Michels, who identified the Iron Law of Oligarchy. For example: "a machine which is perfected for its own sake and not for the tasks which it could have performed.' . . . an inevitable result of organization. . . organization was an inevitable result of the attempt to be effective - in other words, that any group of people who try seriously to achieve any social purpose will end up serving a complex organization [and] become an end in itself. (Cf. Weber.) " When I learned of this concept in graduate school, it resonated with me. Since then, I have worked in and for many organizations, and observed many others--I have never known it to fail. The bishops, Enron, the Bushies, you name it. Only organizations that build in constant turnover in leadership can avoid it. (One article suggests that Athens' universal suffrage mitigated it; a strong democracy is pretty much required for it.) They have other problems, but to me this is a Great Evil, and needs to be avoided first and foremost. Lifelong bishops, bureaucrats, union leaders, intelligentsia--all will succumb, in the surety that they are still doing the Right Thing. The *only* good government derives its powers from the [frequent and] just consent of the governed--all of them. All other forms of so-called authority are tyranny. Blame Original Sin, if you like.

Its not a new phenomenon - here's a renowned historal chart of Napoleon's troop strength on the Russian Campaign 1812-13: http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~jrubarth/gslis/lis385t.16/Napoleon/ What variables might one consider on a similar view of Operation Iraqi Freedom? Death toll going in (coalition troops, foreign and domestic contractors and Iraqi civilians) with increments coming back out. Tracked against, instead of plummeting ambient temp., plummeting US deficit for calendar years 2003-7? Most of this adventure yet hasn't been paid for yet - we dig the hole deeper each and every day... I trace much of the current lack of accountability /dearth of inquisitive political discourse on the pervasive Powerpoint phenomemon in our commerce and education (Microsoft's making us soft): http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint "The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint - Pitching Out Corrupts Within." Until we demand "truth in advertising," we have only ourselves to blame...
Last night on Charlie Rose Wolfowitz had the audacity to propose the Africans invite China to build their infrastructure for them... since when was it an American value to *invite* a Communist State to assist corrupt regimes in developing better forms of oppression and pillage???? He was right on one thing: building roads is key to getting growth in free markets in developing backwaters, but last I heard you didn't need a college-educated hack at the World Bank to figure out how to build roads... Romans taught barbarian Europeans 2,000 years ago, and in some parts of Britain they still cut a straight line from space (Google Earth shows Ermine Street cutting a straight line for 33 miles from Humber River landfall at Winteringham Lat. 53 41'15.68"N Long 0 35'26.00"W south to Lincoln (Lindum) Lat 53 14'5.51"N same longitude!) What tracks will the US Empire leave in Iraq apart from "church planting" Shariah law? Nothing more than decimation of traces left by even more Ancient civilizations than the Romans?

Joseph, I don't intend this to be snarky, but my jaw just bounced off the floor: how can you not describe both of Bush's terms as using explicit demands for blind deference? Has he gotten such deference, Franklin? Hardly. In fact, he's been subjected to non-stop criticism from all corners, practically ever since he took office. The fact that he hasn't gotten such deference proves my point. The American people as a whole are not likely to grant it to any elected official, Republican or Democratic, liberal or conservative. Why? Because Americans can influence the political process through voting, lobbying and other methods. Catholics can't do that. No Catholic has any say in how the Church is run beyond the parochial level. Where are the articles of Canon Law for redress of legitimate grievances? Bishops don't want the faithful to have that power because it threatens their self-perceived perogative to act as medieval potentates. This business about "the Church is not a democracy" is balderdash. No, the Church shouldn't be a democracy when it comes to fundamental articles of faith. But the cliche I cited has been used to cover up centuries of corruption that continues to this day.

Franklin, the voters (in a manner of speaking) do set policy because they have the power to vote into (and out of) office those officials whose policies they like or dislike. Perhaps it's not on as specific a level as you might think, but woe to the politician who blatantly ignores the voice of the people for too long.

Franklin, I don't doubt your experiences one bit. Machine politics is a monument to what the Calvinists would call humanity's "utter depravity" (as would voter apathy). Nevertheless, despite the pervasiveness of machine politics in both parties, it's still subservient to the rule of law and the checks and balances enshrined in the Constitution. OTOH, whatever Canon Law might say about the behavior of bishops or the rights of the faithful has been effectively overwhelmed by an isolated coterie of arrogant ecclesiastical potentates that is oblivious to all but the most self-serving influences.