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Here We Go Again
Here We Go Again
by Paul Cook
In
October of 2001, right after the USA PATRIOT Act was passed, without having
ever been read by any Congressman or Senator, the first step to the progressive
dismantling of the US Constitution was under way. Rights of personal privacy
gone, the freedom of the corporate-owned press was under tight scrutiny,
various books considered unpatriotic were banned from libraries and schools
across the country. Meanwhile, the spindoctors from DC have much of the
public so paralyzed with fear that they are willing to give up their rights
in order to "be protected."
I realize that I'm not the only person
to see how ludicrous our government has become. But I'm terrified to think
that I'm still in the minority.
Since the 1860s it has been a requirement
in the United States to teach history in public schools. However, history
was not added to the curriculum to teach factual knowledge of past events,
it was added to teach patriotism. So it comes as no surprise that so few
people look at what direction the US is headed without becoming painfully
aware that all these events have happened before.
For example, as a result of the US entering
WWI, in 1917 Congress passed and Woodrow Wilson signed the Espionage Act,
which was sold to the public as a protection for the US from foreign spies.
The provisions under the Espionage Act were identical to the PATRIOT Act,
with just a few time-appropriate adjustments to allow wire tapping and
invading personal email. And just like now, in WWI the public as a whole
sat complacently by feeling "protected" from foreign spies.
Those who did speak out about the egregious violations of Constitutional
rights were jailed for an average of 20 years, and in some cases for life.
A similar act was also imposed during WWII,
the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and of course, now. No threats from foreign
spies or terrorists have ever been thwarted by enacting such laws. And
indeed, the PATRIOT Act has also done absolutely nothing to protect the
average citizen from terrorism. In fact "homeland security"
has resulted in a huge loss of police throughout the nation, because many
police officers also serve in the guard and have been sent to the Middle
East to kill innocent Iraqis for oil and, of course, Jesus...
In one chapter of Mein Kampf
(My Struggle), Adolf Hitler described how to control the hearts and minds
of a society as "quite simple": "One must create a propaganda
campaign that is simplistic enough for the masses to comprehend, and it
must be repeated continuously until it is believed as fact. Truth is merely
secondary. When the masses are in synchronicity, the leader must single
out an enemy and dehumanize them in order for the masses to focus their
hatred towards them." Sound familiar? Many may not be aware of this
but Hitler used Christianity to incite hatred for the Jews, much like
Bush is using Christianity to incite fear and hatred towards Muslims.
The similarities get even more
disturbing. In order to gain full control of the German government, the
NAZI party burned the Reichstag on February 27, 1933. They blamed the
fire on the communist party, and Hitler pressured Hindenburg into appointing
him Chancellor. Hitler and the Nazi party consequently passed the Enabling
Act, an exact parallel to the USA PATROIT Act. All civil rights were suspended,
freedom of the press was abolished, personal privacy ceased to exist,
and anyone who opposed the act was guilty of treason. And the Enabling
Act was sold to the German public as a "protection from any further
terrorist acts." We all know how that story ends.
In October of 2001 I had some bumper
stickers printed: "Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Bush – Will we ever
learn?" Although some people have purchased them, many others reacted
with extreme anger. I was screamed at, called a traitor, seditious, had
my car windows broken, etc. What is most shocking to me is that some of
those who took the time to calmly register a verbal compliant, accused
me of, among other things, being paranoid and insane. Of course many feel
that my refusal to bow down to the new King George eliminated my constitutional
rights. I was now a traitor to my country because I refuse to support
the actions of a murderous Texan.
The truly shocking and disturbing thing
is that we live in a country where we'll try to impeach a president for
lying about a blow-job, but a president who lies about a cause for war,
and is responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people
in a sovereign nation is considered perfectly acceptable. And in fact
he is suspiciously reelected.
If there was ever a time for a national
outcry for impeachment, it's now. Or are we just destined by pure ignorance
and stupidity to just keep recreating the past?
All dictators throughout history with a
quest for world domination ended in total failure with massive loss of
lives. We're once again headed in the same direction. The only difference
is, in past wars the madman at the helm didn't have nuclear weapons at
his disposal.
If there was ever a time to get involved, it's now!
Paul Cook is an activist / writer / comedian and a contributor to
Frontiers Magazine and The Progressive. He lives in
Burlington.