Do you think Edward Abbey is a fanatic? Is his fear of a future dictatorial regime unfounded?

Abbey's thinking extends far beyond his particular decade. Looking at the rate of industrial "progress" he was observing at that time, he logically extends the argument to its most extreme possibilities. In fact, some of his list of eight conditions that would be essential have actually come to pass. However, he was bound by the times he lived in, and did not see an end to military conscription. It could be argued that loyalty to foreign wars has not labeled people as unpatriotic except by a few political extremists. There has certainly been some razing of the wilderness, but some has been preserved. So far, not many city dwellers have been bombed, burned, gassed or machine-gunned. His fear of the unknown, based on what he was seeing, forced him to think in the extreme.