Link So, John Dean, stop wondering what happened to your fellow  Republicans. They embarked, knowingly in many cases, unknowingly in  some cases, with utter indifference in still other cases, upon the  destruction of the common good. They began doing this in the Cold War  and kept up with it when it turned out to benefit them economically.  Some of them did this because they were fearful and aggressive by  nature, and hurting those outside their own families and clubs felt  good, or reassuring. Some did it for money. Some did it for  "patriotism." Some did it for religion and some did it out of pure  cussedness, but they did it, and they did it over time.