I guess the word "incrementalism" doesn't register. Our rights have been slipping away for years. Much of the Patriotic Act is beneficial and Constitutional; the suspension of rights guaranteed by the 4th Amendment are unacceptable, as are the usurption of the 1st Amendment by the Campaign Finance Reform law. The slippery slope is getting steeper all the time.
Think of how many basic freedoms we lost as a nation between 1776 and 2003.
We are about to make a similar "Great Leap Forward," IMHO.
Only this time it won't take 200 years. 50 years from now the USA will be a unrecognizable to us today as the USA of 2002 would be to the Foundung Dads.