The US is a police state through and through. There's no accountability for the police, and they're constantly used to rough up politically inconvenient groups

The US is a police state through and through. There's no accountability for the police, and they're constantly used to rough up politically inconvenient groups (the poor, the blacks) and are increasingly smashing their clubs on white, middle classed heads. 360 degree surveillance powers given to local police departments also allow them to manufacture charges or probable cause-- after all, they're the only ones with that privileged information, so they can claim it says whatever they want. The police use a culture of paramilitary raids to stroke their need to feel like soldiers while not being in danger from the civilians whose homes they break into late at night. Oh yeah, and then there's the whole civil asset forfeiture thing, where the pigs steal from people not accused of any crime.