Thanks Guys=)

I think you guys have nailed it for me. A fundamentalist base sets itself up in such a way that it has overwhelming control over both public opinion and policy. Combine that with the numbness Travis spoke of, out-and-out apathy and the approval of the silent majority and you wind up with an Orwellian cocktail designed to erode civil rights. Toss in some dogmatic ice-cubes and suddenly you have a group like the muttaween wandering the land, in broad daylight, and in full view of the government. This situation could be a symptom of an ass-hat fervor, which could potentially lead to the behavior that started me thinking about all this.

Now, because of the way I initially gun everything through my “everyman’s” frame of reference, after reading your comments I went about preparing a response. And then it hit me. The situation I just described exists today in our nation: The so-called “Minutemen” operating along the U.S.-Mexico border. These folks have taken it upon themselves to patrol the border and detain and/or eject whomever they believe are crossing illegally, sometimes violently. A decidedly ominous parallel.

It seems almost laughable to consider that, in the extreme, a group like this could evolve into a roving, patriotic police checking green cards on us ‘brownies’ and menacing anyone without a yellow ribbon magnet affixed to their car somewhere… until you look around and see the state we’re in now. Little old ladies accosting hippies where they live, a grieving mother’s shrine to all of the war fallen vandalized…
-I seem to have strayed off-topic here=/

In any case, you guys have helped me think through an awful subject and in doing so helped me to avoid facing up to my own prejudice and hypocrisy and for that I thank you=)