Hmmmmm..............................

"The wars waged by the Federal government against social conditions have ended with the enemy standing more or less where he was before hostilities began."

"From obesity to climate change, nothing is so personal or so cosmic that it can't be reckoned a failure of government.  If political power has become the guarantor of happiness, then politicians must take the blame for the tragic dimension of human life.  Democracy, as a system, must be held accountable for every imperfection and anxiety afflicting the electorate.  Political intervention, though a gesture of appeasement to the public, has compounded the distrust it aimed to nullify."

"Modern governments have many achievements to their credit.  They have built superhighways and helped eradicate smallpox and polio.  But they have promised many more things—nothing less than the good life—and they have asked for increasing control over wealth and power to get there.  Failure has been a function of extravagant promises and great expectations.     At some point around the turn of the new millennium, elites lost control of information, and power arrangements began to flip.  Assured of the public's wrath, elected governments have acted, or failed to act, motivated by a terror of consequences,   Legitimacy was equated with the deflection of blame, and the aim of governing became to exhibit a lack of culpability."

-Martin Gurri, in a few more wee excerpts from Revolt of the Public