I had an old Russian professor who fought for the Soviets, was captured and held in a concentration camp by the Nazis, escaped, captured by the Soviets and held in a concentration camp as a spy / traitor (for being captured by Nazis), escaped, and eventually made his way to America across Mongolia and China - which is a long way of saying he had an interesting perspective on persecuting totalitarian regimes in the 20th century. Anyway, he had an personal philosophy, that societies almost always trend one way or the other, long, slow slides into liberalism, long slow swings back towards PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. and totalitarian ideologies. "As long as the hippies are rioting in the streets Tolya far worse things can't be happening." I think there's some sense in that perspective. I know I feel more comfortable during times of liberalism, and uncomfortable especially for the past 8 years of Guantanamo, FISA wiretaps, torture - great concentrations of wealth and power. I don't mean to make a political statement either way, this period of concentrated wealth and power is to some extent pushed by members of both political parties. Goethe said, opportunity creates thieves. A healthy democracy requires that we speak truth to power, find allies and put a voice and bodies behind the tenets of our Constitution, and get in the way of those who would tear it down, brick by brick.