Well, I would submit two thoughts on the disitnction. One is that this is not the first time the government has been branded as irreversibly corrupted and treacherous, and the next decade saw oscillations in the other direction. That said I do think it is time to do some serious house cleaning, starting witht he Internal Revenue Code and the governance of political contirbutions.

The other thought is while people like Bushwhack are the figureheads of current crisis,w e should bear in mind that the confluence of elements we are dealing with goes much deeper -- there is a river of ideas that crystallize in what we rthink of as "current government" including the present and future capabilities and purposes of technology, the river of public philosophy as it evoplves below the surface, and the ebb and flow of the human ecology. In the past when governments in thsi country seemed absolutely corrupt and power-abusive, these factors were driving people into their strange corners and bizarre solutions -- an example is the rise of the steam age and the robber barons of the rail industry, and another is the later era when petroleum rose to dominance.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

Regards,

A