The political evolution of this country over the post WW2 years has been a story of incrementalism. Like herd immunity only time is affected by the party in power. I've lived through the terms of 11 or 12 Presidents. At the end of each 4 or 8 year period there is little difference whether they were a D or an R. From nukes to climate change, the children and viral fears the end result is always to trade freedom for "security".

Mencken said it best "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."