Steve Earle's Jerusalem: Principled Stance, or Shit-disturbing?

I've had the album for about a week now, and there's certainly an awful lot to like about the album musically speaking, even if it's not his best; I like it bunches, except for the one track that sounds like it's Johnny Mellencamp. Lyrically speaking, it's bound to generate more debate than before I think; even though Earle has never really shied away from political cause, he front-loads this album with a lot of pretty unambiguous talk about what's going on in America right now, especially with the government whipping up hysteria over the terrorist threat that's coming after EVERY LAST CITIZEN or something like that. It's not surprising that Earle consider's Bush's stance on the issue total and complete bullshit, knowing how he feels about other issues, but is he a bit too earnest about it here? I remember reading somewhere else that Earle had stated that he's more concerned about how his constitutional right have already been abridged by the reactions of the government than he ever was or will be about being a victim of any terrorist act.

The liner notes on the inside of the album contains the following:

In spite of our worst intentions and ignorance of our own history our Constitution has, thus far, proven resilent enough to withstand anything that we throw at it including ourselves. For myself, my faith in this one institution of our all too human (and therefore imperfect) society is absolute but, I hope, not blind. It was built to last but only if properly maintained. Fierce vigilance against the erosion of its proven principles is the very heart of our peculiarly American brand of democracy. It was framed by men whose names we are taught to remember by rote: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Patrick Henry, Aaron Burr... the list is long and distinguished and we call these men patriots. In times like these it is also important to remember the names of John Reed, Emma Goldman, Abbie Hoffman, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King...those who defended those same principles by insisting on asking the hardest questions in our darkest hours.

God bless America, indeed.

Steve Earle, Fairview, Tennessee

So, is he too provocative by half? Is he oversimplifying the issue? Is he right on target? Should we be asking harder questions of ourselves before we all do something stupid? Oh, and what do you think of the album itself?