In one of the webcast things I do, Marcy Wheeler said that one of the things that is evident in the WikiLeaks cables is the degree to which democratic processes are held in contempt by the people in what Assange calls the
invisible government. We're seeing this now as we wait, breath bated, to see whether the State of the Union will include an incredibly unpopular call to cut Social Security--with no policy discussion about the merits of doing so taking place in the public sphere.