You appear to have an 'Ivory Tower' perspective on the current state of the nation and our politics. I'm perceiving that your life hasn't been significantly impacted by what's gone on over the last three years, which is why you think others are being 'paranoid'.
Perhaps they are, but they have every right to be so, given the fundamental changes that have recently occurred in our country. The fact that the sky is still blue, and the birds still sing every morning outside your window, doesn't mean that a truly Orwellian age isn't upon us. It simply hasn't broken through your front door yet.
But it will, unless all of us get a grip on what's being done, and do everything in our power to stop it. I suggest you begin thinking like the Revolution is at hand, because it is.
Quit trying to marginalize people in debates by using insults, all it does is cut off debate.
As for what is going on now (assuming you are speaking of the economy), it is not as bad as the 70’s or the 30’s. Just because we are in a recession doesnt mean that these times are special or worse than they have been in the past. And there was no revolution then. But as of now, all I see is a rampant paranoia that is whipping people into a frenzy.