The New York Times Magazine had a feature story on Senator McCain a week or two ago which covered in detail his personal, military and political history and his heroic struggle to meet the high standards set by his admiral father, the Navy and individual ethics. His long imprisonment by the North Vietnamese due to a refusal to be released as the well-known son of a prominent admiral was cited as an example of his duty to to put national interests above his own. This iconic treatment of a national hero is worth pondering for the way it reveals what Tim calls "the fix is in." The imposition of protective measures often occurs through those with impeccable credentials, especially by appealing to the ones who believe that their special role is to rise above ordinary struggles and dispense exceptional wisdom, fairness and justice. The question on McCain is: has he been sold on the threat to national security of cryptography by appealing to his deep patriotism, his belief in a special duty to protect the nation, to fight its "war" with the day's enemies. Such feeding of grandiloquence is historical practice of the Richlieus running the government, raiding the till, commanding the academies, distributing authorizations to placate antsy kings-in-queue. The cariacature of this are "banana republics" where military and political saviors justify coups in the name of the "public interest," or "the people," fairly well in accord with threats to authority. Military, naval and governmental academies worldwide teach this belief in the special duty of public servants, notwithstanding the evidence that some graduates reap the not-so-public rewards. As amply displayed in S.936, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1998, the perennial US banana republic raid on the till. Read it to see who McCain thinks are the nation's enemies and protectors and who are the supreme judges of both. What's not as well publicized about leadership academies of all kinds is that they also teach (and practice) the Machiavellian wisdom of most stringent laws and harshest enforcement for challenges to the authority to govern, to tax, to command, to rule. To assure "national security" for those who thrive on it.