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And so ends the Great Experiment that started on July 4, 1776 with the approval of the Declaration of Independence by the original thirteen colonies, and the signing of the Constitution by representatives of the newly founded ‘‘United States’’ on September 17, 1787. It has crept away so quietly hardly anyone noticed.
The republic established by ‘‘We the People’’, has now come full circle back to the tyrannical conditions which brought about its establishment in the first place. The United States government has extended its reach from the nineteen points spelled out in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, into the personal affairs of every individual who calls himself or herself a U.S. Citizen, and has blithely ignored the guarantees spelled out in the Constitution that all those who hold government office have sworn to uphold.
Taxation rates are now far greater than they were during the colonial period, personal freedoms are far fewer, and the states have ceded virtually all of their constitutionally guaranteed sovereign powers to the federal government. Even worse, the unalienable rights that all people are endowed with by their ‘‘Creator’’, and which government was in fact instituted to secure, have disappeared. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures is no longer observed by the government, the government restricts what arms ‘‘We the People’’ can use to defend ourselves, where we can use them, and under what conditions. Even the first amendment right of freedom of speech will have finally succumbed to governmental tyranny whenever S.486 or H.R.2634 become law. In the name of protecting society from narcotics, these bills not only increase penalties for illegal drug use, they make it illegal to even talk about ‘‘controlled substances’’. Merely linking to a web site that mentions drugs, would result in a lengthy prison sentence! Even more unbelievable is that fact that a June 2000 survey by the First Amendment Center found that 51% of the U.S. population thinks ‘‘the press in America has too much freedom.’’ Thirty-seven percent of those polled couldn't name even one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, and 20% even think the government should be allowed to approve what newspapers publish, just like the Russian newspaper Pravda!
It’s ironic that only a few years after the fall of the Berlin wall and the dismemberment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the USA has clearly become the United Socialist States of America (USSA) with a frighteningly fascist flavor, while at the same time Russia has started moving toward a more egalitarian capitalist form of government. Under socialism, all property and means of production are directly owned by the "state" and individuals are subservient to the "collective", which of course is administered by a strong federal government. Under fascism, the government is controlled by a strong federal government composed of unelected corporations (ie; "corporatism"). Although fascism is on the opposite end of the political spectrum from socialism, the USA has managed to concoct a strange mixture of the two in which even though corporations (or very wealthy individuals) don't have direct control of the government, they do control the government through means of bribery - a fact which legislators don't even bother to deny (see Government Solicits $192 Million in Bribes).
Take an objective look at the things happening in the U.S. today, and make a list of the similarities between us and Hitler's Fascist Germany or the USSR at the height of its power. Elite armed government para-military units bust down people’s doors, break into their homes, trash the place and search it with only a boilerplate rubber stamped so called ‘‘search warrant’’ that doesn't specify what is being searched for (often without that much), and sometimes even murders innocent men, women and children without any consequences to themselves. Under the Comprehensive Forfeiture Act of 1984, the government frequently confiscates private property of all sorts, including cars, boats, homes, ranches, businesses, and other property without ever charging anyone with a crime. The agencies who confiscated the property then either sell the items for cash which they keep, or gives the seized items to its own agents or agents of their allies such as the DEA, the IRS, and Customs. Even State and local agencies are cut in and the Judicial system can get a percentage. What's not to like about this sweet deal unless you happen to be a member of the proletariat? Yes folks, this happens all the time in America ‘‘the land of the free’’ today. In fact, the USSA is at least 50% socialist, because that's about how much of our earnings the government extorts from us under penalty of imprisonment in the form of income tax, ‘‘social security’’, sales tax, state tax, and the other sixty or so taxes, fees, levies, and other charges that we all must pay, that are redistributed by the government elite to people and pork barrel projects it designates ‘‘according to their needs.’’ We’re not allowed to use our own public lands for recreation, not allowed to use certain lanes of the highways designated as "carpool lanes" that we've paid for with our 45 cent per gallon gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees, and we even rent the land our homes are built on from the government and call it ‘‘property taxes.’’ How is this any different than the situation under socialism in which ‘‘the state’’ owns everything, and allows the people to use it or not as the government sees fit? In fact, the ten planks of Karl Marx's communist platform are already in place and being practiced in this country but as a sort of "socio-fascism" because our legislators are so open to bribery by corporate interests.
Is this truly what the majority of Americans want? If so, what about the rest of us? Is Jim Bell’s proposal the solution?
| ‘‘Liberals love to say things like, ' We're just asking everyone to pay their fair share.' But government is not about asking. It is about telling. The difference is fundamental. It is the difference between making love and being raped, between working for a living and being a slave. ‘‘The Internal Revenue service is not asking anybody to do anything. It confiscates your assets and puts you behind bars if you don't pay.’’ |
| — Dr. Thomas Sowell, Forbes, July 1994 |