Regardless of where you acquired the verbal tic "folks", you're using it a lot lately. Maybe it's not conscious imitation of Limbaugh, but whatever it is, you're adopting a lot of his mannerisms and style.

You haven't made your case with me. Far as I can see, the best you can do is "well, they're doing it too, so it's OK for us!". Which seems like mostly a quantitative argument. It's the quality of the rhetoric that's getting scary. Conservative rhetoric these days is ferociously exclusionary--it allows for no other beliefs than its own, and expresses deep hatred and contempt for anyone who would dare hold beliefs other than its own. There is simply no place in your concept of a decent world for anyone who disagrees with you.

Tell me, Tom, should conservatives ever achive greater power in America, say through the scenario of martial law after a terrorist attack, would you conservatives fail to act on your beliefs? Why wouldn't you? The temptation would be irresistable after years of anger at the feeling that you're not getting your way. How could you pass up the opportunity to set things "right" and have a grand old purge when you have the chance? Wouldn't that be the patriotic thing to do?