<And what's to be afraid of? Where is the great conspiracy to take away freedom, civil and human rights? It ain't out there.

Okay, I give up. You obviously are completely ignorant of the history of collectivism and socialism over the past century, or you have a mindset that allows you to dismiss it. Had we not acted as a deterrent to totalitarianism for most of the 20th century, Europe would be gone as an independent entity and I wouldn't take bets on America.

It's amazing that you can obsess on Ashcroft, yet ignore movements with the express goal of making our nation into a centrally-controlled slave state.

I'm beginning to think I'm getting into a religious argument here, and I avoid those like the plague.