… is from page 1 of the 2008 Third Edition of the late Vincent Ostrom’s 1973 book, The Intellectual Crisis in American Public Administration:
Technical capabilities now exist for human beings to choose a fate marking the end of modern civilization as we know it. Today, the choice to destroy much of mankind can be made by a mere handful of men. If that choice is ever made, we can be reasonably confident that Americans acting in “the line of duty” will have participated in that fateful decision.
DBx: At every government’s core is force. Whenever those individuals with the authority to use that force get that authority by assuring the populace that whatever problems (real or imagined) the populace has are caused by foreigners, watch out. Bad things will occur.