Finally, a car analogy.

+1 !!

Really though, how is it dangerous? There are no disincentives.

[apologies for my verbosity in a culture where many are reticent to acknowledge that it is possible and even desirable to use more than 160 characters to communicate.]

TL;DR

Rationality is not a factor.

Seriously? That's what you're going to post?

So would those calling him a traitor today, still be calling him a traitor tomorrow if he disclosed something along the lines of the aforementioned " darker secrets " ?

Yep; people like to feel warm and fuzzy about their country / government; anyone making that position less tenable is to be demonized.

After that, may I suggest you pay attention to the principles behind the positions of each of the candidates and pick the one that most matches what you actually agree with.

It's so difficult to choose as my preference is to support whichever stance polls as most popular with 'ordinary people ®', no matter how horrific or poorly thought-out.

Any tips on which candidate most closely matches my ideals?

if he's well-employed over there, I imagine he has beautiful women lining up to date him.

Probably less appealing than it first appears once the dating equivalent of a food-taster has waved each potential partner through the US-agent checkpoint.

I wonder if the irony of "authoritarian regime" is lost on these clowns.

Of course not, well-crafted phrase which can simultaneously rally support amongst the n00bs whilst enraging non-n00bs by flagrant use of hypocrisy. Double-win, woohoo \o/. High-fives all the way back to the speech-writers' office \o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/\o/

There's only so many more times they can play the land-of-the-free card once the whole thing has been shown to be a cesspool of corruption. From there, where else is there but the police state which has been in dress-rehearsal for the last few years?

I'm sure there are those who are willing. How about starting the ball rolling with some suggestions which fit together into a medium-to-long term plan?

Waiting for the spin-machine to reach full speed?

Lets face it the American public has actually shown themselves to be rather discerning on this issue.

Taking mental note of those posters who've used words like 'traitor' in this topic, on a site apparently populated by those generally more clued-up than the average critter, indicates otherwise.

I'm definitely sensing a whiff of "they're saying no but they mean yes."

Remember, No Means No.

What do you expect from a country that has a Department of Homeland Security? It sounds like something from Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. (Fatherland, motherland, homeland ...)

It wouldn't be democratic to deny all those gold-bearing nazi war criminals their constitutionally-protected right to 'lobby' for their interests to be represented.