"It is our lack of understanding of our rights under the U.S. Constitution that is writing our epitaph as a republic.

It is the fact that (as Clint Eastwood said earlier this week) we own this country, and our leaders are our employees that has all but escaped our notice – because those of us who are paying attention are forever scrambling to figure out how the latest governmental assault is going to affect our lives.

And those of us who are not paying attention will someday discover that ignorance is not bliss -- not when a tyrant has used it, election after election, to insure that he wields irrevocable power."