Reminds me of the old saying:
"Democracy is five wolves and three sheep deciding what is for dinner."
The author of this article hits it on the head. I also agree with your point behind your reference to Nuremburg. It is fitting in the context of this article too, given the one DA candidate who said he would enforce a law forcing Jews to where the infamous yellow star if it were passed by the legislature. What's worse than this candidate's view that it's his duty to show no discretion in prosecution of laws is that many people will actually vote for this guy.
American society is weakened by its current prediliction for obedience. Our freedoms are literally dying the death of a thousand cuts - from the gun-takers to the anti-smoking nazis, to the people who now want to tax fast food out of existence. The problem is that the issues that lead to the decay of our freedoms in and of themselves appear innocuous. Our government does not (at least not yet) engage in radical policies (like Mao did, for example) that lead directly to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Our freedoms and way of life are being destroyed for petty reasons - stuff reminiscent of playground disputes mediated in favor of teacher's pets.
They only appear innocuous if the victor of the World Series occupies your thoughts constantly, or if you race home to catch the sitcoms everyday. To those paying attention, innocuous is not the word they use to describe it - I think malignant growth is more like it.
The idea of the government not yet engaged in radical policies is a key question. Force has illegally been applied in many cases. If you believe in principio obstate (resist from the beginning), in principle the radical policies have already begun. On the other hand, if you're a typical GOP strategist, and think we can compromise our way to freedom, then the slow, Marxist, dialectic process will slowly take us down into the abyss.
Either way, the end result is the same.
John Ross's book "Unintended Consequences" (which I'm currently reading) touches a lot on this. I highly recommend it.