When noon is come and the light destroys shadow, the only shadow that remains are those hidden in the deep dark places of the land, where light fears tread. Inevitably the glow passes to twilight, and the shadows emerge stronger than ever until true night falls.
Lets say we were to outlaw all forms of demonstration, protest, and social unrest. For a time, things would go well. Perhaps even very well. The jails would be full, the appearance of calm would prevail. But only for a time.
The stupid ones would get picked up. those that were trying to make a point, or decided that they could get away with whatever protest they wanted. They would be removed. But like the old saying goes, it's the quiet ones you truly need to watch out for. It doesn't take a genius to set up a terrorist cell unfortunatly. 2 people decide they have had enough, and they recruit 2 more people, only now the origional 2 people only know 1 of the other person's recruits. This is the terrorist cell. They keep the cells small, so even if one is captured or destroyed they cannot kill off the others. It takes time, years, decades even, but if they survive the initial creation, they grow. A little funding here, a little extremisim there, and they have a reputation, and they become truly dangerous. They start setting loyalty tests for applicants, things like "Kill yousseff over there. yeah, right now. use my gun. no, realy, if you don't, we'll kill you", which of course Law enforcement or even spies cannot officially do.
Circles within circles, the cell takes on a life of its own, until there is no control. Bin laden was sucessful because he found a way to exert some control through his terror tapes. those tapes contained code phrases and messages that had no meaning to anyone but the cells. that allowed him to get as far as he has, because "news" networks like Al jahzeera and cnn helped broadcast his orders to the world. Maybe they really didn't know?
at any rate, sedition and discord awaits only for the opertunity to breed. that's why I think some provisions of the patriot act were so very dangerous. they sounded good in theory to some, but then again, so did a little term paper by a guy named Marx...