Originally Posted by
whirledtraveler
It's not just the Coast Guard. There used to be an ethic of cooperation between citizens and enforcement. Sort of, "we're all in it together." The true problem with the war on terror is that it makes all citizens suspect and drives a wedge between the citizenry and enforcement.
That, I think, will be the worst legacy of this decade. America is becoming completely undone. The civil fabric is being torn apart.
A sad but true insight,
whirledtraveler. As an army vet whose family has a strong law enforcement background, I raise my boys to distrust anyone in uniform except firemen. It makes me very sad to do so, but in the era we now live, there really is an Us and a Them.
Until the Reign of the Corporals ends and their petty snoop hangers-on are driven back into their holes, a policy of non-cooperation with Them seems to be the only option for anyone who likes democracy and believes in a civil society. There are no 'Good Germans' in this societal conflict, merely citizens on one side and collaborators on the other.