De,
It seems to me that "anyone with eyes open and a reasonably long term perspective" should be able to contrast how things were ten years ago and how they are today.
I'm thinking that most people either don't bother to make that comparison or won't allow themselves to make that comparison for partisan or other reasons. Do you think I'm mistaken in this regard? What IS the process by which people inform themselves that their world view is shaky, after all?
I have come to realize that men are not born to be free. Liberty is a need felt by a small class of people whom nature has endowed with nobler minds than the mass of men. -Napoleon