"Is our democracy that fragile?": Or, That Damn Margaret Mead

Margaret Mead famously said, "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Liberal-hippie types like to use this statement to make themselves feel better. They fail to grasp its full implications. The Brown Shirts started out as a small group of committed people. The Bolsheviks started out as a small group of committed people. The Spanish Inquisition started out as a small group of committed people. Al Qaeda started out as a small group of committed people. And as Seymour Hersh demonstrates in his book, "eight or nine neoconservatives," aka A Small Group Of Committed People, have changed America, Iraq, and the world.

Dammit.