The Secret to Our Success

I didn't know our government could torture people.  I didn't know the president could go to war with another country without the approval of Congress.  I didn't know the Supreme Court could decide the winner of a presidential election.  I didn't know the president could assassinate American citizens.   I didn't know American citizens could be imprisoned without trial indefinitely.  I didn't know the Constitution could be suspended. 

There was a time we didn't know either.   But we chose not sit around contemplating ethics or legal precedents.  We didn't consult the Constitution.   Instead of listening to our lawyers, we spoke to them.  And they assured us if we broke laws, we could change them later.  We realized we would never known how much power and wealth we accumulate for our corporate partners until we tried.  When the time was right, we set out to see what we could get away with.

A few years ago Easton Syme (now with DoF) explained our winning attitude to journalist and author Ron Suskind:

The [George W. Bush White House] aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."