I don't. They decided to sleepwalk their way into this. I knew what was coming for the USA in a single visit to Houston in 1999. I could hear the jackboots marching in lockstep from just around the corner down the block. Americans of my acquaintance, when I expressed that nervousness, told me I was being "alarmist" … and kept telling me that as the post-9/11 phase started with the not even slightly ominous-sounding "Department of Homeland Security", the "PATRIOT Act", the explosion of racism when a black president was elected, the whole Tea Party fiasco, etc. etc. etc.

Now the same people who went for a nice stroll in their sleep are waking up to what they let grow all around them.