<...Recall that the Taliban were able to consolidate power in Afghanistan primarily by restoring some semblence of law and order to the war-ravaged land.

Too true. Almost without exception, totalitarian oppressive dictatorships get started when the totalitarians offer the desperate citizens something they want or need. Remember, the Nazis were originally welcomed into Germany. Same for most communist regimes. People ignored the philosophical basics of these movements and assumed that anything was better than what they had now. They may have changed their minds later when the masks came off, but then it was too late.

Totalitarians in this country are no different, winning unthinking converts by promising an endless cornucopia of goodies, social stability, and other things.

The thing to strive for is "ideology, not pragmatics."