“Designs” may have been too ominous a word choice, but BATF abuses of civil liberties really were rampant during the 90s. If you are skeptical, see Kopel & Blackman’s “No More Wacos” (Prometheus Books, 1997), especially pp. 292-310 where they document the extent of the agency’s use of excessive force during the period. A lot of this may be understood as the natural consequence of an overgrown, over-funded bureaucracy creating its own demand and perhaps emboldened under the Reno Justice Department’s newfound emphasis on gun law enforcement. In analyzing what led to the normalization of excessive tactics, Kopel and Blackman cite a cocktail of causes including lack of administrative redress, poor police training, and a corrupt and “good old boys” institutional culture.

While the causes may have been complex, it appears that standard tactics had become increasingly oriented to favor the use of force as an early resort, and that this was becoming SOP. Did this change in the wake of Waco and Ruby Ridge? Congressional and media scrutiny did lead to a number of agency reforms intended to curb agency misconduct. My hunch is that the possibility of another such debacle provided enough incentive for the gungrabbers to tone down their act, if only to stay in business and retain federal funding (it’s worth remembering that at the time of the Waco hearings, several members of congress — including Arlen Specter — were calling for the BATF to be abolished).

If there are stats on armed raids by federal law enforcement, it would be interesting plot trends from, say, 1990 to present. I’ll bet a beer that Randy and the Davidians did us a favor.

Another possible reason for the correlations I found in the GSS is geographic. More liberal people might be more likely to live in urban areas. Furthermore, considering the “big sort” men are more likely to live in areas where women have similar views & goals.

A final possibility is that rather than women liking liberal views in men, it merely that certain conservative views are repelling. So merely being apolitical could give the same benefits as liberalism.

Equally congruent with your hypothesis is the proposition that mildly liberal men are just smarter, hence more fit. <3

Also, none of the correlations TGGP or I have run have really strongly suggested any correlation between sexual success and political views (since political views strongly influence mating goals).