When I was a kid, we had just beat the Nazis, but the Russians were pretty scary. They were Communists and had a satellite in orbit. It was called Sputnik, which managed to sound funny and scary at the same time.
We were scared that they were coming to take it away. All of it. TV's, big cars, night baseball. Maverick and Gunsmoke. The whole thing, all of it.
They didn't. They went bust.
But from that day forward, it seemed like someone was always coming to take it away. It became a state of mind, keeping an eye on whoever was planning to take it away.
I have watched civil rights activists, non-violent demonstrators, suicide bombers, potsmokers, sick junkies, conservatives, liberals, gays, pro-life, pro-choice people, Jews, born-again Christians, and most certainly, Muslims, all identified as the ones who want to take it all away.
Think we're getting into a collective state of siege?
Think that maybe the only ones coming to take it away are ourselves?
A mentality of scarcity makes misers of us all.
