the inner fear Americans have of each other is palpable - and related to gun violence

I won't go into personal details that may come across as paranoid; my thesis either resonates with you or it doesn't. I feel that a perfect storm of irrational fear exists in the United States that is directly related to our inability to stand up to the gun lobby and its childish interpretation of our Constitution. People who state that we should simply ban all guns are equally guilty. There is no "well regulated militia" here; there is a sick love of simplistic jingoism that puts everyone at risk. The United States also has this history of rooting out "Un-American" behaviors (see my Pete Seeger link to his testimony before the infamous House committee). Toss in 9/11 and government spying and you have a perfect salad of indigestible poisons. We are told to watch out for dangerous behaviors. That's our Homeland security! Americans give up all rights in our Bill of Rights without any orange-revolution style protests, but we stand by the gun lobby even as it perverts our daily lives and brings us closer and closer to a Soviet-style torture and gulag state. So you think it won't impact you? It already has. You think we need a leader to guide us out of this mess? S/he would be assassinated. We must all be the leaders.