How would you have reacted if any Republican ran promising to do the following?

[JackRiddler]

4. Let's get a few things straight.

I am reading a column. Like it or not. You're the one who is hearing "rants" and making the false association with voter participation. You and I are not "we."

If you don't hear such criticism at the start of the term, maybe that's because one actually gives them a chance! However, your objection that this criticism has only suddenly appeared is hard to believe: I was advancing many of these criticisms on this forum years ago, and if you only just noticed them (from me or many others) then perhaps it was you who wasn't paying attention.

All of the above, in response to the attitudes you expressed, merely distracts from the factual presentation. Do you have any objections to it? Here it is again:

(1) Codify indefinite detention into law; (2) draw up a secret kill list of people, including American citizens, to assassinate without due process; (3) proceed with warrantless spying on American citizens; (4) prosecute Bush-era whistleblowers for violating state secrets; (5) reinterpret the War Powers Resolution such that entering a war of choice without a Congressional declaration is permissible; (6) enter and prosecute such a war; (7) institutionalize naked scanners and intrusive full body pat-downs in major American airports; (8) oversee a planned expansion of TSA so that its agents are already beginning to patrol American highways, train stations, and bus depots; (9) wage an undeclared drone war on numerous Muslim countries that delegates to the CIA the final call about some strikes that put civilians in jeopardy; (10) invoke the state-secrets privilege to dismiss lawsuits brought by civil-liberties organizations on dubious technicalities rather than litigating them on the merits; (11) preside over federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries; (12) attempt to negotiate an extension of American troops in Iraq beyond 2011 (an effort that thankfully failed); (14) reauthorize the Patriot Act; (13) and select an economic team mostly made up of former and future financial executives from Wall Street firms that played major roles in the financial crisis.

It hurts to see it, but it's worse when you close your eyes and pretend it's not there. One needs to look past any given administration and see that the emerging authoritarian state has been several decades in the making, under all presidents.

But as the question went: "How would you have reacted in 2008 if any Republican ran promising to do the following?" Can you ask yourself that?