"It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men." ~ H.L. Mencken
The Tyranny of 9/11: The Building Blocks of the American Police State from A-Z
The reality we must come to terms with is that in the post-9/11 America we live in today, the government does whatever it wants, freedom be damned.
- Login to post comments
User Login
Search This Site
Related Columns
Recent comments
Root Strikers
Non-Voting
Civil Disobedience
Reprint Rights
Comments
"...we can start right away by instituting changes at the local level, holding our government officials accountable to the rule of law, and resurrecting the Constitution, recognizing that if we fail to do so and instead follow our current trajectory, the picture of the future will be closer to what George Orwell likened to “a boot stamping on a human face—forever...”
I'm not exactly denigrating Whitehead for this editorial. I believe he means well. But he remains statist to the core.
And his use of the term "we" and "our" sidesteps the individual. I have no "government officials" that I know of. I treat those who go by that claim as I treat rattlesnakes. I expect nothing from them but trouble. Except, in the case of rattlesnakes, they do help keep the mosquito and rat population down.
Abstain from beans, my friends. It might seem a small thing. But it's a start. Sam