Don’t sit back and wait for the Supreme Court to fix things, Mr. Dean warns. It is by far the most secretive of the branches of government, and the most dangerous.

John Dean, John Dean: A Very Different Country, The Paula Gordon Show, recorded September 17, 2007. in Atlanta, Georgia, US.

John Dean: A Very Different Country

Republicans have broken America’s government by gaming the system, says John Dean of “Watergate” fame, and author of Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches. He says his hopes for a reversal rest with the American people — we hate being suckered.

“People know when they’re getting screwed. When there’s a breakdown in fairness, people get it.”

He’s deeply concerned that authoritarian Republican leaders and followers are intent on a radical transformation of the United States.

“What’s interesting is Conservatives once were such sticklers for the rules,” says this former Goldwater Republican. “They prided themselves on their adherence to playing by the game’s proper procedures.  That’s not true anymore, from the way they run government to being intellectually dishonest and making arguments that are fallacious — arguments for the nation going to war, for torture, for illegal wiretapping — very radical rulings.”

Before he wrote Broken Government, he revealed the strong authoritarian streak among leaders and followers of America’s extreme political and religious right wing in Conservatives Without Conscience. The second book in his unintended trilogy, he called Worse than Watergate.

“It was actually a misnomer. It should have been Much Worse Than Watergate. Nobody was tortured during Watergate.  Nobody was killed under the so-called Watergate abuses. Millions of people weren’t subject to electronic surveillance under Watergate. It was just minor if you compare the two.”

And the good news?

“Give the public solid information — the things they don’t know about — and they’ll make the right decisions.”