Kurt Vonnegut: "What has happened to us? We have suffered a technological calamity. Television is now our form of government."
Read more of it - lots of great Lincoln quotes which, like many Benjamin Franklin quotes, seem to be achingly poignant today when discussing the evils of many American military ventures.
Speaking of television becoming our form of government, I certainly hope that we do not become Scarborough Country. It seems that more and more often television is proving to me that our language needs a lot more colorful adjectives for me to yell. Furthermore, Scarborough's apparent victory is apparently not. Sweet.