I think what we see in the US today represent's democracy's end game. Divided into rival factions, each seeks to use the power of government to assault the other.
Flag burning is opposed, not because of anything intrinsic about burning a flag, but because flag burning is something "liberals" do - and any excuse to constrict, punish or imprison them will be leapt upon. Speech against the Iraq war should be censored - not because of any principled objection to free speech, but because speaking against the Iraq war was something liberals do.
When Bush said, you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists, he was not speaking to governments abroad, about being with America or with the terrorists, he was speaking to the electorate. The real enemy in the war on terror is not the "terrorists", it is the portion of the American people who do not support the values of the Neocons.