so blow, like many others, is worried about the revolutionary rhetoric of the right, and presumably rejects resistance to authority in any form. of course, the united states originates in a revolutionary tradition, in which an actual president might say things like that the tree of liberty is nurtured by the blood of patriots. i'm sure that when, say, nicholson baker was speculating novelistically on the propriety of assassinating bush, and the whole left was decrying the rise of american fascism (as was i, actually) , blow was counseling peaceful capitulation to the authorities, and getting ready to blame baker or al franken or keith olbermann for any moment of actual violence that might have ensued. and though there is a moment of revolution in the american tradition, blow is certainly right that our bravest and most pervasive tradition is enthusiastic passivity in relation to infinite bureaucracy, and that even merely the rhetoric of resistance is dangerous and ought to be repressed.