And, not the football kind (though I should say GO PATS!)
I just finished Naomi Wolf's "The End of America - Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot"
Wolf's book reminds us of what the founders of this country risked their lives to create (and what generations of citizens have fought to retain) The Constitution was not an easy document to create or ratify. The founders risked their lives to create a society where people were truly free - and no one person or administration could take the rights of life liberty & happiness away. A beautiful system of checks and balances that would keep the power in the hands of the people, and not in the hands of a despot.
Wolf also reminds us that the Founders knew that democracy is not easy to maintain - it is fragile and has to be fought for every day. If you start to take it for granted, and let someone start taking your rights away in the name of security or something else, you risk the entire prinicple. She urges her readers to re-examine the time before during and after the Revolutionary War so that the stuff you learned in civics isn't just some dry facts about some men who lived in a different world.
Wolf examines the 10 steps governments across the ages have all used to destroy a democracy and examines how the current administration has taken each one:
1. Invoke an External & Internal Threat - the global and endless war on terror
2. Establish secret prisions - Guantanamo Bay expansion - secret doesn't mean you don't know they exist - just that what they do there is "secret" or "illegal"
3. Develop a Paramiliitary Force that answers only to the administration - Blackwater
4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens - we all know what this is
5. Inifiltrate Citizens Groups - The defense department has been doing this for awhile, as has the FBI - all in the name of "surveillance"
6. Arbitrarily Detain & Release Citizens - How about those flight lists? Or the innocent muslims arrested after 9/11 just in case?
7. Target Key Individuals - The Bush Administration has a habit of putting pressure on academics and others who disagree with them. Bill Maher, Professor Churchill, the Dixie Chicks to name some of the most famous. You don't have to agree with anything they say to recognize their right to say it.
8. Restrict the Press - Dan Rather, PBS, NPR to name a few. Without a free press, you don't have a free country. There's incredible pressure now to destroy the protections all journalists need to do their jobs. There are also those famous white house sound bites filled with fake news. Remember when Armstrong Williams got paid to repeat the white house's version of the no child left behind propaganda?
9. Cast Criticism as "espionage" and Dissent as "treason" - "You're either with us, or with the terrorists". One of my personal favorites. The ability to speak freely and disagree with the government is the cornerstone of a democracy.
10. Subvert the Rule of Law - Ex - Everything AG Gonzales ever did - including the attorney firings in swing states.
The government should be afraid of the people, not the other way around. Lately, it's the government you have to be afraid of. Are you aware of the Military Commissions Act of 2006? You should be. This law says the president or his agents can declare anyone (yes ANYONE) an enemy combatant without having to stick to silly little things like Habeus Corpus. What makes you an enemy combatant is incredibly vague. Once you're declared an enemy combatant, you lose all of your rights, and can be thrown in jail indefinitely. They don't have to tell anyone, or even let you talk to anyone. You can't use a civilian lawyer either. You're essentially disappeared. I'm sure people say "oh, I'm okay with the Military Commissions Act because it's for the bad guys, not me". That's always the way it begins. Once the law is on the books - nobody is safe. You can go from "good guy" to "bad guy" in a heartbeat. These laws do not exist in a true democracy and are exactly the kinds of laws that the founders risked their lives to make sure never existed.
Even if you don't agree with Wolf, I encourage everyone to think about certain things such as the Military Commissions Act, Guantanomo Bay and government sanctioned torture and ask themselves if they can feel good about them. If you don't - say something.
Happy New Year!
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Comments: 11
GO PATS!
Did you write something similar?
Fascism describes our present government much more closely than democracy. How could any American support what has happened to our rights? Unfortunately, our press has been bought up by the wealthy.....so freedom of the press was just bought out...there was no fight over it...even the Wall street Journal has succum to a buyout by Rupert Murdoch...One of the most evil owners of massive media worldwide!
I disagree with you Gary...even the press is owned by business that is in cahoots with MSM...or afraid to question our government for fear of losing advertising from big business. Basically, MSM owns all of the minds who believe in it!
I have to admit, that it never crossed my mind as a young adult, that our government, and our media would actually become controlled by the ultrawealthy simply by buying the media...and of course..through the private banking interests who control our money supply!
The old saying "money talks"...is now...."money controls"....given the absolutely massive money corruption that surrounds the Iraq debacle...this should be crystal clear to anyone on the planet! Any congress person who enters Washington now...is weaned into the corruption that exists there, and they become spending machines who destroy our country one pork spending at a time! It amazes me how anyone in congress could vote for any new spending when we are massively in debt already!
The American public is so removed from what goes on in Washington, that they have no idea how badly they are being screwed every day there! They don't realize that the social security money they paid in good fiath to our government is long gone, and been spend on useless space exploration, and useless military programs, and useless pork spending for nothing! We have folks here who are dying from lack of food and housing, and lack of even basic medical care! I personally don't give a rat's ass about landing on Mars when we have people suffering in our country. There certainly is no religous conscience in government like they want you to believe!
My only concern about the USA is my children! When I brought my son, and daughter into this world, and this country...things were going well...at least I thought so! Since that time....we have endured 9/11...an event that our government either knew was going to happen, and let it do so..or most likely...an event that was planned by our government, and covered up very nicely and easilly due to the massive nature of the attack! The evidence for the latter is massive and very easilly available on the internet. What? I'm a conspircy quack!!!!? Wake up folks! Have you ever seen any plane debris from the pentagon or PA crashes? Nope!! Have you ever seen any steel remnants from the twin towers or building #7..nope....The reason you have not seen the evidence is that it was destroyed BEFORE any investigation was done!
On New Year's Eve we visited our neighbors as our custom. My neighbor had very recently taken a train trip from Chicago to New York. He explained that they somewhat paralled our border with Canada. He frequently noticed policemen who would check out people's passports and other identification apparently as part of border patrol. He was shocked at how rude they were to people. Some people were taken off the train and did not return.
It is possible that they were doing a great job of protecting us from terrorists. But their manner was overbearing and intimidating. All I am saying is that we need to be very alert and protest abuses of power.
I am a member of Amnesty International among other organizations and I feel we all have the duty to be informed as best as possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the US is torturing people at this moment...in our names.
We are in the majority now. We are surrounded by masses of like-minded people who've grown weary of the staggering corruption, astonishing incompetence, and perilous creeping fascism. We must strive to remain united, regardless of what manufactured "threats" lie ahead, as surely they will appear.
I am a woodstock survivor and agree with much of your article. There was a time I didn't trust anyone over thirty, and just knew I wouldn't make it to 40 myself. I am 58 now. Something weird happened to me a year or two ago. I wrote about it in one of my first posts on this site. Please allow me to share it with you:
My first Patriot Guard Mission a year ago March :
Working at a retail Auto operation I don't get much time off these days, so when my buddy suggested that we take that Friday and travel to Westminster Maryland, and it was going to be over 70 degrees – I was in! Tony a former Marine, and myself are avid motorcyclists, and we both own V Star motorcycles. When I asked why Maryland? – Tony went on to explain that we would join up with the Patriot Guard Riders Motorcycle Organization and that we would be attending the funeral of a twenty-year-old Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder who died while on duty in Iraq this week. Tony went on to explain that we would be needed to stand guard for the family of the deceased, because militant protestors were planning to disrupt the funeral ceremonies. I was a member of the Viet Nam Era, and vivid images of protests of the past began to crowd my memory. Although not a veteran myself I always had the utmost respect for those who sacrificed their lives so that the rest of us could live in peace. I couldn't reconcile why anyone would bring further misery to a family of someone who had paid the supreme sacrifice. So I immediately agreed to the 150-mile journey from Doylestown Pa. to Westminster Maryland, on the morning of March 10, 2004.
It was relatively warm and there was only a slight drizzle when we shoved off that morning at 5am. Tony took the lead and we headed down rte 611 to the Pa Turnpike and 476 South. After sunrise we pulled over and I switched from glasses to goggles for better protection from the sun and we proceeded on. Tony rides a full dress machine with a windshield and had two large American Flags strapped to the back of his bike. My machine is an 1100 Custom, which is chopped and has little in the way of extras, and no windshield. This caused some distress that day because I was being buffeted by 50 mph wind gusts and had to crouch low and forward to duck the airflow as we zipped along at 80 mph. In Delaware we met up with two more riders at a truck stop. After introductions the four of us headed down 95 in staggered formation, then took 695 West to 795 North and arrived at the staging area in Westminster at about 8:30 am.
Initially we encountered about thirty bikers, but within an hour our group grew substantially. We were joined by a couple of trikes sporting large American flags, and a jeep or two. Soon a cotillion of State police bikers arrived and it was off to St. John's Church a few miles away. We were about a hundred strong as we rode up to the church past the protesters. As we rounded the bend, I caught a glimpse of a poster that read "Faggot", and wondered what type of misfits were protesting.
We assembled in the church lot and parked our bikes. The group leader called us together and explained the mission. We were present to honor the family of the deceased soldier, and to form a barrier between the protestors and the church where the service was being held. It was to be a non-violent and silent action on our part, in order to send a message to both the protesters and family alike. It was an eerie feeling as I stepped out onto that field and joined ranks with the veterans. I felt proud of what we were about to do. We then proceeded to march military fashion and formed a human wall between the protesters and the nearby catholic school. Many of us were carrying large American flags and faced down the protesting group. Then we were commanded to do an about face and turned our backs on the protesters and saluted the family before us.
The leader of our group explained that he wasn't a preacher but would state our purpose that day. He went on to say that hundreds of years ago free men came together to set up a nation based on certain human rights and principles for "We the People" – you and me. And that "We the people", set up a militia to protect our form of government for "WE the people", you and me. That the family inside made up of members of "We the people", sent their son to fight for "We the people" in the war Iraq. That young man paid the ultimate sacrifice for "We the people"- you and me. That this young man and his family deserved our respect and our thanks and that we would honor him today by blocking out the view of those behind us. I was very moved by his speech.
The protesters began singing a shameful parody of "God Hates America". In turn someone shouted out that we could sing better than that, and we responded with God Bless America. We then brought around several Harleys and let them idle to block out any further distractions. As this was going on members of the family came out to the grounds and expressed their appreciation for what we were doing. A teacher from the school addressed us to say that the sixth graders looking out their windows gave us a standing ovation.
Once the protesters were disbanded (their permit ran out) we proceed to the church and formed an honor guard of American flags at either side of the entrance. The children from the school filed out in their plaid uniforms and lined the sidewalk across from the church and stood in perfect attention for about forty minutes until the Marine honor guard carried the soldier to the awaiting hearse. We all mounted at that point and escorted the hearse the twenty miles to the cemetery, where he was buried with full military honors. All along the route the intersections were blocked and we proceeded nonstop as people stood outside their businesses and watch and even saluted as we passed by.
Whether you agree with this war or not, whether you are Republican or Democrat, hawk or dove; basic human dignity dictates that you respect the fallen soldier. For it is by his action that your very right to agreement or dissent is guaranteed. Most of the cameras and reporters hovered around the protesters that day. Not much attention was focused on our group. I was very proud of those I joined with, and shed a few tears that day.
When I got home I did some research on the people that were protesting. Take a good look at what they stand for. I have included a news tape in the link, which accompanies this email.
www.wjz.com/video/?id=16051@wjz.dayport.com
btw - I know that group. They showed up around here early in the war when when of our local soldiers gave his life in Iraq. Truly despicable.