Ruled by fear...

Ever read Machiavellis treatise "The Prince"? In a nutshell, it is a how to manual describing how to best control the masses, which Machiavelli considered little more than cattle. A central theme with Machiavelli is the notion that the masses are much more manageable once fear has been struck into their hearts. Back in the day, a ruler was free to instill fear through any number of means. Many countries still employ Machiavellian techniques to control their cattle. Americans enjoy civil liberties that would seem to preclude, or at least make it difficult to instill fear through traditional methods...(torture, military oppression, etc.). News stories about how Americans are becoming unsafe due to our congress being unwilling to permanently grant the state the right to casually monitor our telephone calls without warrants make me wonder if we havent entered a period of neo-Machiavellian rule. So long as we are afraid of "bad guys", arent we all more manageable? Many of us are actually grateful to our government for stripping civil liberties that our forefathers fought and died to protect because it makes us "feel safe" in these scary times. If our government is really so worried about the risk of terrorist attacks, have you wondered why they continue to refuse to secure our borders? US citizens get practically strip searched in airports, but anyone can waltz back and forth across the canadian border at will...so long as you dont mind crossing after regular business hours you wont even see a guard posted on many roads. No one even knows how many people stream back and forth across our borders every year. Scary times indeed...somehow the Patriot Act doesnt make me feel much better!