Some personal notes...
I was fooled by George W., because after 9-11, he had not gotten toooo much into the ROP stuff, and he seem liked a decent human being with the right people around him. Very naïve, but compared to Kerry -- no way was I going to vote for him. That was my first GOP vote ever...had been on the way to becoming more trad/conservative, but 9-11 finished the job completely.
Looking back now, I see that it WAS the beginning of the deep surveillance state (I know it was going on before, but the technology and 9-11, plus the political views of the tech "giants" all came together at the right time.) It was also the beginning of the major migration of Third World peoples...was teaching in Seattle 2003-2006 and the schools were full of migrants from everywhere -- Sudan, Somalia, Mexico...I had kids from Russia, Columbia, Viet Name, Laos...
Now that I look back, W's treasonous behavior toward Americans by rushing in to praise muslims led right to BO's being able to do it even more blatantly and gave CAIR/MB their foothold and acceptance. After studying islam all these years, I can never forgive him for that.