Okay, I fell into it trying to clarify the concept "metaphysical," but I wasn't sure just leaving that word hanging would work. I picked two random examples, one from a religious standpoint, the other from a secular standpoint. I missed the mark. The point is that rights are political, and evolve from humans dealing with each other, and should not be elevated past that point.

The problem is I have five shelves of books dealing with philosophical concepts like this (no, they're not all by Ayn Rand!), and it's hard to compact it into a dozen lines.

I think what happened there is that you needed to skate away from the connection I pointed out between the increased need for ID in America and the fearmongering of Republicans. The consequences of enhancing the fear of terrorism, then constructing the issue of illegal immigration on top of that fear (connecting the xenophobic dots) is that identification really has become a survival issue in America. And we owe it all to Republicans.

Nice try, but the idea of a national ID is a lot older than that. Clinton's "medical ID" concept, for example. Republicans and others on the right have a long record of opposing such things, and are usually rewarded by remarks about their obsolete values, or in the case of the far right, their paranoia.

I'll tell you this for free: If totalitarianism ever comes to this country, odds are good that it's not going to be from fear of an enemy, but because people were willing to sell their freedoms for "benefits."

BTW, nobody who talks about the great global warming apocalypse has the right to use the term "fearmongering" with a straight face. You might note that we are being treated to as much potential increase in government control of our lives over that issue as we are over terrorism.

Like I said before, it's always about the power, no matter what the issue.