williamconlow

Keith, the parallels between the Hoover era and the present are striking. One significant difference, however, is the media's willingness in the 1970s to call abuses of power "illegal." Even Hoover and Nixon seemed to acknowledge at times that things they did were illegal. Today, despite arguably worse abuses of power, the public, the media, and even critics of the Iraq, NSA spying, and tortur....errr... enhanced interrogation, seem unwilling to call a spade a spade. Do you agree? If so, why do you think that is?

Thanks, Keith!

With my comment, I didn't mean to imply that the media--or anyone--performed the role of the watchdog. Do you think the spectre of terrorism has been used more effectively than the Red Scare?

There have been no investigations--congressional or otherwise--of the illegal spying Snowden exposed. James Clapper hasn't been prosecuted for lying about the surveillance the NSA was doing. He also kept his job overseeing that surveillance.

It seems to me that once COINTELPRO was exposed, it was universally understood that very serious and illegal wrongdoing had been occurring. That seems to me to be the one fact that has no parallel with current events.

Piketty! Piketty! Piketty!

The BIG question: is there a flaw in capitalism?

Do you mean this as hyperbole? Surely if the Citizens' Commission and the Snowden saga have taught us anything it is that nonviolence works. And also that we should not casually accuse others of treason.

My question was vague. Is a flaw in capitalism that it inevitably leads to a massive gap between rich and poor? Is "rich getting richer, poor getting poorer" the result of bad policy or a flaw in the system?