This 'there is no difference between the parties' thing is getting really old, the differences are clear. Yes a surveillance state had also flourished under the Democratic administrations and that's a Bad Thing, I'm with you on the general need to roll that back.

But don't come here telling me administrations are basically the same. And much of the surveillance state exists because of the politicians that pander to the more xenophobic demographics. Look how much of the previous 8 years they spent portraying Obama as a crypto-Muslim, bent on the the Islamicization of the United States yadda yadda. Every time he tried to dismantle or scale back any aspect of the national security state (Guantanamo being an obvious example) conservatives howled about him enabling terrorism and putting the American people in danger. To ignore those factors is to deceive yourself about the political dynamics that shape your environment.

...or perhaps the nation faces threats that are thrawrted by these measures that you speak of.

Obama managed to push affordable care act through despite republican howls. Perhaps there are other reasons for his change of heart on other topics.

all obama had to do was not renew bush's executive orders. thats it. he just had to do NOTHING. so yes, as far as privacy is concerned, both parties are equally shit.

That's what he did with troop withdrawals from Iraq - simply stick to the agreement Bush signed. And yet everyone on the right seems to think that by doing so he gave birth to ISIS. Ignoring these political realities is facile, even if you aim to overhaul the whole political system.

no. i'm not going to let you equate the complexities of withdrawing military assets from an active conflict with NOT signing a piece of paper.

You miss the part where my concern about Trump is the lack of predictability, as evidenced by the sudden travel ban.

I can deal with an authoritarian government as a visitor if I know what to avoid while visiting. Not so if the rules can change at the whim of someone who seems unstable.

We should definitely be fearful of Trump. The only good thing that can come from this is that he will take full blame, but people will finally realize how corrupt we have become. I doubt that will happen though, because I'm sure the other half is brainwashed to think the Democrats can do no harm either.