The long awaited slippery slope finally presents itself.

Indeed.

Think about it. Many Jews weren't keen on leaving Germany because they figured the rampant anti-Semitism would blow over, and heck, they'd survived plenty of other storms in the past by keeping a low profile. And even as the SS pushed them closer and closer to the abyss, people thought "this is it, this is the absolute bottom." It is a pretty long way from relegating a people to particular professions, to forcing them to register and wear Yellow Stars, to putting them into ghettoes, to killing them, isn't it?

So we fight erosion of civil liberties at every turn, no matter what the justification from the State might be. That is the 'eternal vigiliance' of which Jefferson spoke. The Constitution doesn't guarantee any rights. The Senate doesn't safeguard our liberties. The President doesn't protect us. Only we the People do. Once we abdicate our responsibility to be skeptical of our government, to engage in oversight, to scrutinize its every deed, we lose that liberty we're supposed to defend.