Krom, It's a strange anomaly indeed when liberal indigenous Brits support freedoms for people whose fundamental agenda is ultimately to deny freedom of any sort to anyone who refuses to concede to their twisted, hateful, philosophy. If those 'run-of-the-mill nuts' you spoke to had their way, they wouldn't be talking to you, Sharia law would reign, and you would be dead. Just how much freedom do you want to give them?
To say that the proposals the government is suggesting will make criminals of us all is not only alarmist - it is quite wrong. The proposals, if implemented, will only affect the rest of the population insofar as they will afford the country greater security. You say perhaps we should be more idealistic, but there are none more idealistic - or more 'creepy' - than Muslim extremists - and they welcome your idealism because it inadvertently assists their cause. They are laughing at you.
We need to acknowledge the fact that with radical Islam there is, and never can be, any sort of compromise - it is like nothing we have ever encountered - and the government, rather than coming under attack from the very people it is attempting to protect, should be commended for doing everything in its power to combat what is, in reality, an extremely dangerous enemy within, the threat from which is growing daily.