This is an essay and audio interview with Gore Vidal.
The money quote:
I asked him, as the novelist of Empire, whether the plunge in these Bush years from republic to empire was now irreversible. "Well," Vidal replied, "I think Gibbon would say: no. It's highly reversible. And try to step aside when the Capitol falls on you. Ours will go as the others have gone."
Read and listen up:
http://www.bopnews.com/archives/000106.html