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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InzeladunMaster" data-source="post: 4511189" data-attributes="member: 9774">Unsurprising, yet frightening.  Look at the amount of power our current conservative government has grabbed, and how much they discourage discourse about it.  Blame the media for asking questions which reveal problems. Keep secret as much as possible.  This government has invoked executive privilege more than any other to keep its secrets.  Cheney has gone to ridiculous lengths to set himself up as his own branch of the government independent of oversight.Whereas Pres. Clinton wanted his audience to be split 50/50 in terms of agreeing with him, Pres. G.W. Bush wants only 100 bushies and actually has teams traveling with him with huge banners to hide protestors - he does not want to even see dissent.Paint the enemy as something frightening is another tactic of the anti-intellectual. Favor the common man over the educated man (Joe Six-Pack, anyone?).  Label anyone who disagrees to be a non-patriot or a radical liberal (still not sure why the "liberal" label is bad...) or, worse, as a terrorist in their hearts.Also unsuprising is that fundamentalist religions tend to be anti-intellectual. They do not like having their beliefs probed at all.  They, like the dictators, want to make arguments from authority, but without critical examination of that authority.Unsurprising, yes.  Scary?  Yes to that also.</blockquote>