I just read your letter, LToothpick, and I must tell you that I completely understand your anger and frustration. I too often feel the same thing when I look at the "stench" you mentioned, and how quickly so many Americans are either quick to dispense with the values that we are supposed to hold so preciously every time something comes along to scare us, or back off from standing up to these principles in order to get elected into government office and avoid being called names by the people who could care less about our values and accuse those who adhere to them as being weak and "soft" on any menace that comes out of the woodwork.
But please know that those of us who loathe this "stench" and truly uphold the values that a free and just society is supposed to value and revere, like Glenn himself and myself (though I am hardly one who deserves to stand in the same room as him), will never give up the fight. Even if a police state does eventually appear, or something damn close to one, we, or others that come after us, will continue to fight against it. As long as there are those of us who continue to fight and uphold these values as something that are far too important to dispense with as soon as something dangerous (be it real or imagined) appears to challenge us, there will be hope on the horizon, and the possibility of a better and more free society being established in the future.
But this hope only remains alive so long as those of us who see the "stench" for what it is, and see the police state mentality emerging in this nation as a far more dangerous threat to our safety than any terrorist cell anywhere in the world, remain fighting the fight and do not give up doing so out of sheer frustration. Winning this fight will take time, and likely a lot of time, but if we stick together and never give up, we will prevail eventually. So please don't leave the fight, my friend...we need you, and by "we," I mean the entire world.