My parents remember the WWII era quite well. My mom's memory is that everyone -- including her -- was patriotic, and that being patriotic meant supporting the government and not asking rude questions. My father was a front-line infantryman in WWII, and perhaps for that reason, and the fact that he grew up in Louisiana, he's always been less susceptible to the idea that government means well and can be trusted.
I do not like the fact that many of the actions being taken now are purely cosmetic, and are intended only to send the message that "something is being done". I do not like the fact that the government can take 1,000 men off the streets, holding them indefinitely without charge or trial, telling all who ask about them to get lost. I particularly do not like the new steps toward a police state culture, in which citizens are not just urged to be vigilant, but required to become spies and informers. It would be nice to think such measures can be temporary and limited, but recent history suggests the opposite, and shows that advances in RICO, asset forfeiture, zero tolerance, and the War on Drugs can be and continue to be abused by transforming us all into criminals at the government's whim. The easy tolerance for abortion, human embryo experimentation, and creeping euthanasia are solidifying the unspoken, unthinking consensus that each of us lives -- or dies -- not by virtue of unalienable Right, but because of someone else's Choice.
The advantages of such powers are not lost on the State. To be perfectly blunt, I expect people like you and me shortly to be an embattled minority in this country, with whatever remains of democracy in the hands of the stupid, the dependent, and those bent on social control and a re-engineering of the human condition. I see myself fighting a rearguard action, and am not interested in accelerating the speed of surrender.
An eloquent and well-reasoned reply.
Neither am I interested in hastening the hardening of chains on my wrists and ankles. Unlike our forebears in WWI and WWII, we have a well-earned cynicism toward the Fed. I'm sometimes told that I'm "ate up with it".
However.............we have a bit of a secret weapon on our side this time: the basic American aversion to inconvenience and the Almighty Dollar. Please allow me to explain...
We all put up with tanks and APC's in airports (I know I know..........fat load of good they'll do against some individual maniacs carrying suitcases..........), obscenely long lines in those same airports, etc., etc. while we're at war with an enemy who's obviously hell-bent on destroying our country and our culture.
BUT.................
........as soon as it looks like we've won this thing (when will that be? when the media say so...........sad, but true.....), then John and Janie Citizen will NOT put up with these long lines, the uniformed guys in cammo and toting M-16's, etc., in their airports. They'll stop travelling; the airlines will suffer even more / once again, and there will be hearings, talking heads on TV questioning the need for this continued "military presence", etc. The airlines will win. The military will be gone, security will (hopefully) be improved by a combination of better technology and better-trained security personnel, and the public will tire of this war-time footing and scream for "normalcy".
One thing you can count on with Americans: Interfere with their "convenience", and you'll have Hell to pay when you can no longer justify inconveniencing them.