If you agree with Thompson's perspective on America, and you're looking for a worst case scenario, you could do worse then to read this book. Its a psycho analysis of the reasons that people establish totalitarian states. This is what fear does to societies.

I read Fromm after reading your signature on SE2600 years ago. Fromm is the bomb. This book is required reading if you want to understand the transformation of relatively "sane society's" into fascist states. Speaking of which, if you enjoy "Escape From Freedon", you will also like "The Sane Society", also by Fromm. It outlines what a healthy society looks like.