If
The Lord of the Rings were populated only with powerful, malevolent villains and able but outnumbered heroes, it would still be an exciting tale and would still serve as obvious allegorical fodder for both Left and Right.
But LOTR gets added depth from minor characters who, when placed in extraordinary circumstances, react in truthful and telling ways, serving as a familiar lens through which we view the events of the story.
One of these characters in particular resonates so clearly with the post-9/11 anything-goes-if-our-master-says-so America. that you would swear Tolkien had found a time machine somewhere and taken a trip to the U.S. circa 2005.
Consider then, a hobbit by the name of Ted Sandyman...
Ted Sandyman makes a momentary appearance early in the trilogy as a miller's son who is popular with his fellows and doesn't believe anything he hasn't seen for himself.
Fast forward a year and a half. The hobbits' government (such as it was) has been usurped by characters who have done everything they can to waste the place. They terrorize the populace, crack down on dissent, redistribute the wealth of the country to a favored few, and get a real kick out of pillaging the natural resources. (And you thought LOTR was fantasy.)
And there's Ted Sandyman, as happy as can be. His standard of living is lower than that of his father (Ted merely oils gears while his father ran the mill). He does what his new bosses command, is insulting towards those who express outrage at the condition of the country, and justifies everything because, "we've work to do."
The Sandymen of our time condone torture, give no thought to a hundred thousand deaths in Iraq, and complacently ignore the squandering of our good will, political effectiveness, moral authority, and even our money. They are most willing to have their freedoms squashed one by one if it results in the tiniest chance that some terrorist sympathizer will be found and put somewhere where they can't hear his screams. They eagerly vote for people who reach into their pockets and give the loot to their friends. And then they get indignant when anyone dares to complain about it.
As Frodo said,
I hope there are not many more hobbits that have become like this. It would be a worse trouble than all the damage the Men have done.
Yet, the Sandymen are declining (somewhere around 30% depending upon which poll you believe). More and more of our sturdy hobbits are picking up their pitchforks and defending their rights.
So the next time you encounter apologists for torture or the exponents of the politics of fear, just think of them as Sandymen.
And remember that at the end, the hobbits achieved regime change.