<p>DRJ4,</p>
<p>Yes and no. Madison also feared the role of the ambitious when a nation was wraught with fear from a foreign threat. Though it was good for that nation’s people to unite, it wasn’t necessarily up to the state to do the uniting for us.</p>
<p>I think that uniting in the face of a threat is very important. I don’t know how much I like the idea of the state apparatus telling me when and how to unite.</p>
<p>I’m certainly not the type to run around and wear a tinfoil hat over PATRIOT, but I’m somewhat worried about how easily people are swayed by the big strong arms of the Fed at times like this. The strongest apparatus in a free state is its people, not its bloated and faraway central government. </p>
<p>But then again, these are the same people who are wont to burn down shops owned by Muslims, so I suppose a little bit of Fed presence ain’t so bad.</p>