The 21st century opened with a decisive break by the American ruling class with what remained of its democratic traditions. In 2000, the Supreme Court ordered the state of Florida to stop counting votes and installed George W. Bush as president. There was no challenge to this naked repudiation of the right to vote and democratic rights in general from the Democratic Party or any other section of the political and media establishment. That the theft of the 2000 election was a milestone in the disintegration of American democracy was indicated by the individuals whom the American ruling class selected to staff its new government–a roll call of arch-reactionaries including Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and John Bolton.

The following year, the Bush administration inaugurated the so-called “war on terror,” establishing a new “state of emergency” political framework that has remained in place to this day.