Lonesome EJ:

Ok, you make a fair point about the ascent to power of the dictator. I believe it is one of our duties as citizens of democracies to keep a close eye on those in power to make sure they don't seize absolute power. It is almost more important to keep an eye on the oligarchs, as they are often the movers and shakers behind a figure head.

If you're interested in history, you might be interested to study how the Roman Republic, almost 700 years old, transformed into first a dictatorship, then an Empire in a relatively short space of time. It might yet prove instructive in the case of the USA.

As for freedom of speech etc.,

Wasn't a journalist fired for publishing photos of US dead coming back from Iraq? Can't show reality too strongly to the public in case they have a change of heart.

My friends stateside reliably inform me that (especially immediately post 9-11) anyone who wanted to protest about the war in Iraq, had to do so in designated 'free speech zones' (which of course also implies that everywhere outside those zones is not free speech!) where they would be out of the public eye.

Which US media criticises the Iraq war and roll-back of civil liberties that accompanies Bush's regime? CNN? Fox? Maybe there's one or two, and they have to watch their P's and Q's.

Have the US population ever been more spied on? You might say if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear. But that's missing the point. Once you go down that road it only depends on who has access to and control of all this information for a free society to degenerate into an un-free one. Don't forget that the words 'democratic' and 'free' mean nothing unless they are applied in practice (as someone already mentioned up the thread). Indeed, it has always struck me as one hallmark of totalitarian regimes how much they bandy about the words 'democratic' 'people's' and 'free' as if to make up for the actual deficit.

Once again, read the history of Rome's transformation from ancient Republic to autocratic Empire. It happens more easily and quickly than you might think.