Note to commenter

Right. And the little boy who cried, "Wolf!" was just trying to "draw attention to the changing atmosphere in the pasture before it gets to wolf proportions."

The problem is that the standard of what makes for impending Stalinism has shifted drastically over the past 10 years. When Janet Reno sent AFT troops in with guns blazing to kill 70-something children in order to save them, it merited a collective yawn from the Left. If Congress decides it may theoretically be necessary to look at public library records in search for people who may be trying to blow up our cities, it's the shadow of Stalinism.

I have a blog burbling on the back burner about American apocalypticism, both Left and Right. As the song goes, "I've seen the world from both sides now, from Left and Right, and still somehow, it's paranoia's delusions I recall. I really don't know Stalinism at all."