[diminoten]

Which bad actor would it take to put us into an authoritarian state? The president? No, congress would impeach him. Congressional leaders? No, the supreme court would overrule them. The chief justice? No, congress would constitutionalize a law if it's important enough. Checks and balances still exist.

I don't see any position of power that could act in such a way so as to gain unilateral control of the US government.

[dllthomas]

I'm not confident that we are in such a position, but I think we're closer than I am comfortable with. Imagine J. Edgar Hoover heading the NSA, "under" a weak president.

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/turnkey_totalitarianism

[diminoten]

I don't think the NSA is an inherently powerful organization.

If they actually were doing all the awful things people keep saying they could do, e.g. congressional blackmail, the person doing those things would be shut down in a heartbeat. Do you honestly think the head of ANY government organization couldn't be dealt with if they went legitimately rogue?

[dllthomas]

I think it's more plausible than you suggest.

[diminoten]

Maybe, but I see no evidence to think that.

[dllthomas]

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that, in the sense of things we would be more likely to see if it were the case than if it weren't. Many things from the Snowden docs; parallel construction; statements of congresspeople and courts that they were unaware or misinformed; Clapper flat out lying to Congress and not facing any charges... Nevertheless, I actually don't think it is the case that we are currently in that position; I am just nowhere near as confident of that as I would prefer to be.

[diminoten]

None of what you just said suggests that we're one step away from authoritarianism.