Nothing says more about Americans than the collective yawn (present company excluded) as regards the revelation of a massive surveillance state whereby all are guilty of being a potential enemy of the state. We're all citizens of a pre-crime regime. Or Cheney's One Percent Doctrine.
Sure, the chattering classes and the political class enjoy a game of sanitized mud wrestling – all to eventually support and justify the status quo – the THREAT means we have to sacrifice our inalienable rights.
But where is the demonstration of conscience by “regular” people? Where is the protest of shutting off patronage to the corporations who collude with the venal American government in crimes against humanity? Where is the fight against the fascist military state which has squandered our good name and trillions of dollars to fight Quixote's windmills pillaging for profit?
Are Americans so stupefied and impotent – powerless against power – that the fight is over before it begins? Has the American Fascist State learned the lessons of Sun Tzu to demoralize an enemy, defeat them before the first battle?
Yes.
Let's be clear: the rhetoric speaks about foreign-based Islamic terrorists to justify your forfeiture of Constitutional protections, but the reality is the enemy is you.
If you believe the rhetoric, if you believe Bush and Cheney's Big Lie, adopted hook, line and sinker by the current administration, then whatever. If you believe Big Brother is there to protect you, then your ability to think critically has been sucked from your brain, like your keystrokes are sucked into the infinite byte-vaults of the NSA.
Obama chortles we can't have 100% security if we demand 100% privacy or some-such nonsense.
But no one is asking or expects 100% safety in a dangerous world and the NSA has been spying on us way before 911. Hell, Monsanto, protected by corrupt politicians, will kill us all before any bleeding heart terrorist.
But if you don't believe the rhetoric spewed by professional liars – if you recognize the real target of the massive security, surveillance, police state is you – then the questions are begged.
Are you willing to jettison all forms of social media? Get rid of your cell phones, tablets and other electronics which can mark your every move, like dog piss on a fire hydrant?
Quit your free email service on Yahoo, Gmail, Hot Mail, etc?
Get rid of your credit cards?
Let me answer for you: No, you're not.
Why? Because you have nothing to hide other than a little porn surfing, and the government doesn't care about your illicit affair with an office mate.
The government is only looking for terrorists. And drug runners. And tax evaders. And Tea Party members. And Occupy supporters. And gun nuts. And Jesus freaks. And whistle blowers. And journalists who publish leaks. And money launderers, unless its the CIA. And Constitutional fetishists. And “Patriots.” And Militia clowns. And anyone who looks cross-eyed at a cop. Anyone who takes a picture of a government building. Kids who sell lemonade without a permit. Organic food growers. Raw milk drinkers. Vaccination paranoids.
And anyone who foments for the change only a revolution can bring.
And you're none of those things, are you?
Of course not.
You have nothing to hide, so you don't care about your privacy, guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
You don't care about:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the socialists
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.
Because you're an American citizen who has a government of, for and by the people, which is the opposite of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia or “Communist” China or Ayatollah Iran. The American people give its consent to its government's policies. The people vote freely and fairly for their representatives. The people support its government.
Remember: The security-surveillance state is all legal. Everyone's following the law to the letter. And just because it's all done secretly, doesn't mean it's not done properly.
You can trust Obama. He's a good guy.
And he's only looking for the bad guys.
And that's not you. So you have nothing to worry about.
Until you do. Until the whole house of cards collapses; until the next bubble bursts; until the Ponzi-scheme economic system crumbles; until the bio-sphere implodes; until water and food riots; until the social fabric unravels and it's every armed-to-the-teeth Mad Max for himself.
Ronald Reagan famously said of disarmament: Trust but Verify.
The American Government is asking for our trust as we disarm and surrender our Constitutional protections for the sake of "security." They want a blank check of trust.
But we cannot verify the government's veracity because its actions are all done in secret.
So with all due respect we must say "no" to the politicians and security-state bureaucrats.