I went to see the magical "Pericles'' at the Shakespeare Theater the other night. In ancient Greece, the prince of Tyre tires of all the yes men around him. He chooses to trust the one courtier who intrepidly tells him: "They do abuse the king that flatter him. ... Whereas reproof, obedient and in order, fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.'' Not flatter the king? Listen to dissenting viewpoints? Rulers who admit they've erred? It's all so B.C. (Before Cheney). Now, in the 21st-century reign of King George II, flattery is mandatory, dissent is forbidden, and...