A handy checklist

I love checklists, don't you? If so, you'll love this. The 164 (June/July 2006) edition of First Things was kind enough to include an oppressive regime checklist. One should keep this handy in one's wallet or pursue for quick consultation--especially on Sundays!

___ Extreme hostility to "outgroups." You are either for us or against us. Dialogue or civil conversation with the "enemy" is betrayal.
___ Complete submissiveness to "ingroups." Our party and its leaders are to be supported without question. Criticism of our side is breaking ranks, and breaking ranks is treason.
___ All relationships are subordinated to the criterion of what will advance the "cause."
___ The most important thing to know about the world is that it is divided by the conflict between them and us.
___ Purely theoretical ideas that do not clearly serve the cause are to be repressed.
___ The expression of sentiment is a sign of weakness.
___ We and our group can survive only by the manipulation of others, who are there to be manipulated.
___ The triumph of the cause will result in a harmonious world without conflict.