I must disagree with your comment about the police state not coming on gradually. I present for your edification Great Britain. It is no longer lawful to defend yourself from an invader in your own home. You will be arrested, and the criminal you 'assaulted' will be able to swear a criminal complaint against you. You no longer need to be observed by human eyes exceeding the speed limit. Camera equipment placed along roadways take pictures after a radar gun (unmanned) detect your speed. A ticket is then mailed to your home. Trucks drive about detecting electromagnetic fields generated by television sets, comparing the number detected against the number registered. For tax purposes, you see. You are taxed on the number of t.v.'s in your home.
So a gradual police state is indeed possible. Does this ruling make the US one? No. But it is the tinyest step in the wrong direction.
But the post that got me in everyone's crosshairs on this thread was the statement that we are NOW no better than East Germany. I think you'd agree we're not there yet.
I have also submitted that we are on the way to becoming a police state, but not because of judicial rulings like this.
I think the UK is doomed because Parliament has become a rubber stamp for a single mindset. The backbenchers are no real opposition to the power.
Gradual vs. sudden examples abound. But there is still a possibility for a gradual police state to be rolled back in one grand peaceful popular revolt in Congress. But if the parties mold into one, and the RINO-DINO party chooses sides against the people, then we are suddenly in the same spot as the UK.