This is a guest post by A.J. E.
“This new TSA business that Obama’s allowing is terrible! I hope the new congress can do something about it.”
As much as I would otherwise agree with this statement uttered by a friend in conversation, it contains an implicit fallacy.
That fallacy is that the invasion of our liberty began in 2009, which is quite evidentially false. Liberty has been chipped away in America for many years, far longer than I have lived. Whether it be in the form of military conscription (legalized slavery,) the removal of posse comitatus and the writ of habeus corpus or the removal of first, second, fourth, and tenth amendment protections, America has not fallen so far in a day.
This incremental approach to tyranny is quite visible, especially in light of the amazing Declaration of Independance which gives us a glimpse of the grievances that caused the colonies to revolt against Britain.
Many of these grievances have strikingly modern similarities.
“He (the King) has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
This is very much like the bureaucracy that we are afflicted with today, and such offices and unelected bureaucrats have increased with the aid of both parties. Just the agencies and departments beginning with the letter “A” fill an entire page.
“He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our legislatures.”
The Posse Comitatus act is all but a dead letter, so replete with exceptions it doesn’t bear much concern. There is even a military theater command for North America, (I hadn’t realized there was war in North America or the United States, but indeed the global war on “terror” and drugs crosses all boundaries and jurisdictions. At least of those weaker than the federal government.) They explain a few of those
Also of note is the disarming of law-abiding citizens by the federal government. The U.S. Marshalls, the National guard and local police, which are all but co-opted by the federal government and militarized by the same, engaged in the disarmament of law-abiding citizens in New Orleans.
I know, we can’t let a good crisis go to waste.
“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:…
–For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”
Few would question the resemblance of this claim to modern events. Taxes, both direct, indirect and inflationary have been levied on us apart from the consent of the taxed. Most deadly and surreptitious of them all is the inflation tax. More people are coming to understand that the devaluation of our currency is a tax on all those that hold that currency, much like diluting a fluid to make it go farther. The one measuring out the dilution is the one who profits from it. Those who held a fixed amount of dollars in an account since 1913 have lost over 94% of the value that their medium of exchange once held. The trend has shown no indication of reversal.
“For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury,
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences…”
This is one where the modern similarities might seem to diminish for some. Quite the contrary, for the precedent has already been set which encouraged Barack Obama to maintain a hit list of American citizens that he deems guilty. “Strong evidence,” apparently, is needed. Whatever that means.
This may not bother some so long as such hits are carried out on foreigners with Muslim names, but the Declaration of Independence is at odds with such an idea, as said below:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Note that these rights are not said to be granted only to American citizens, but that “all men are created equal” and are endowed by their Creator with these rights.
This also means that our rulers are not above the rest, though they often seem so when not campaigning.
Interestingly enough, most of the senators and representatives responsible for the agency now demanding un-Constitutional searches of fliers do not have to submit to such indignities.
These indignities, along with the bureaucracy propagating them were not created yesterday and have been pushed by both wings of our one-party State.
It’s been interesting to look back on the political stumping and screeching of the various politicians as the Democrats decried the beefed-up TSA and the Patriot Act, but upon the election of the Holy One, Barack Obama, these became “terror-fighting” and “necessary” things for safety’s sake. Meanwhile the Republicans and Republican-melded elements of the tea-party movement are decrying them suddenly as a form of “Obama’s tyranny.”
The truth of Vladimir Lenin’s statement, that “Politics is a question of who does what to whom,” shines clearly.
No, to get in the fight to reclaim our liberty against intrusion by the State we must ignore the false dichotomy of the modern right-left politik and attend to the protection of rights from both, any, and all political power-mongers who might remove these protections or ignore their defense.
The invasion of our rights was not begun yesterday, in 2009 or even 2001. Neither can we depend on either political party to protect our rights. We must take on the responsibility to protect those rights ourselves, and withdrawing our consent from such establishments of the State is a great way to start.
It’s important to know the nature and identity of the oppression, and that it often comes draped with a flag and carrying a cross.
Check out A.J.’s blog at woodscraps.blogspot.com
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14 Responses to Guest Post: The Slow Bus to Totalitarianism
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Great post!
This is brilliantly written! I just loved the “Holy one” as reference to Obama…then followed by the Patriot act. Bravo!!!
If the FBI orders the TSA to “randomly” search certain people (according to teh ACLU the TSA maintains the FBI’s list) then to look at who is being spied on by the FBI will be some indicator of those who will be “randomly” selected for special treatment at the airports.
Check out who is on the FBI’s spylist: Greenpeace, National Lawyers Guild, American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker peace group), Food Not Bombs, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, ACLU, and…basically, anybody who is vocal against the wars of agression, is pro-liberty or pro-environment. Check this out: https://www.aclu.org/cpredirect/18706
Here is a link which will show how ordinary American civilians are affected. Even joggers in shorts and bird watchers are being targeted by the power-crazed FBI:
https://www.rightsmatter.org/multimedia/
So we should “Just trust” our officials, eh? Give them one inch and they will take ten miles, that’s why the Constitution was drafted in the first place.
An ACLU attorney once said to me “we still have the mechanism of the original Constitution in place”. We can still call on it even if it is being side-stepped by the new so-called “laws”. The Constitution trumps them, not the other way around, let me point this out.
Time to replace Congress? I recently saw a bumpersticker: “Can’t read? Run for Congress!” How about it, folks? Gotta replace the bad apples with good people and then we will have a chance again at winning back our freedom.
I’d love to see more Americans checking the Congressional voting record before voting. I was predicting that Obama would not be a good idea because i saw his vote for the Patriot Act twice, not once. THat made me raise eyebrows. Please spread word about checking the Congressional voting record. Thank you.
“Please remove any remaining civil liberties and place them in the tray, sir” reads a comic strip picturing a man at the airport security checkpoint. See the image here, this is great:
harmful.cat-v.org/security-theater/
Maybe We Won’t Fly can do a little Bus board ad campaign of it’s own, something that shows the xray images and gropings of children and eldrly plastered all over city busses. If not busses maybe billboards on the way to airports?
Could the funds be raised?
The bus ads idea is a good one. Want to lead the charge?
We’re finishing up the first billboard and need others to lead the charge for them in their local communities.
[...] Guest Post: The Slow Bus to Totalitarianism | We Won't Fly (tags: liberty freedom usa totalitarianism tsa constitution civilliberties government) [...]
George, that is a most fantastic head photo for the article. I would certainly go for a “we won’t fly” print on my car. XD
BREAKING NEWS REG. THE TSA
WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE REVEALS THE DIRTY TRUTH BEHIND THE BODY SCANNERS
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122304412.html
In one more all-too-obvious crackdown on free speech, which is not by any coincidence the very first amendment in the US Constitution, TSA punished airline pilot Chris Liu for posting a Youtube video about serious airline security flaws and saying on his cell phone camera video:
“As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce. It’s only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here,” the pilot narrates.
The police showed up at his home after he posted the Youtube video, confiscated his gun and revoked his privilege to own a concealed weapon. ‘A letter from the TSA dated Dec. 6 informed the pilot that “an administrative review into your deputation status as a Federal Flight Deck Officer has been initiated.”
According to the letter, the review was directly related to the discovery by TSA staff of the YouTube videos. “The content and subject of these videos may have violated regulations concerning disclosure of sensitive security information,” the letter said.’
According to the ACLU’s website, where there are probably hundreds of examples of Federal improper invocations of “national security” and “state secrets” truly designed to cover up wrongs committed by the US government, this is a very typical pattern. The airline pilot’s Youtube video surely is bringing this important matter to light.
Of concern is that he points out that airline passengers and crew must go through security checkpoints while ground crew maintains access to planes by the swipe of their cards. This could only result in enforcement of the nudo scans instead of toppling them. But his motives are right, to point out the flaws in airport security and to expose the whole matter as “Smoke and mirrors”.
Read more and watch youtube video on ABC News: https://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=114138&catid=2
Read more here:
https://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=124271
PS See the legally-informed comments on the Opednews article, they are very insightful and informative. One very good citizen asks ABC News to ask the public question why free speech is being cracked down on, and the other commentor obviously has legal training, explaining why the Feds wrongfully take power into their hands and get away with it. A must-read. It would be interesting to see other lawyers respond to those comments here.
I will not fly ever. I will not be degraded like that.
In a post on the we won’t fly board you posted a point that I would like to counteract. I happen to be an EMT that is retired and disabled. My disability started several years after 9/11 as I was a rescue worker at ground zero when I developed renal cancer and full blown PTSD. I of all people understand the need for security, but the security TSA provides us is really security theater designed to keep us in check and in a constant state of fear, while giving us a false sense of security. As someone who was raised in the Jewish faith, I spent a year in Israel serving in their military in a security role guarding a kibbutz. Before that, I was a US marine. Israel has experienced far more terror than the United States ever will, and has and has a fear level far greater than our country. With that fact in mind, the Jewish state of Israel still respects its citizens and their modesty laws by not looking at naked images or touching genitals of passengers and are modest. As a matter of fact, not a single flight out of Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv has had a single bombing or hijacking of any kind since El AL and the airport authority started its security program. Security starts before you even arrive at the terminal and proceeds further than TSA’s BS. Interviews are personal, friendly and dignified and respect the civil rights of passengers and have avoided many attacks. Even their aircraft are equipped with reflectors and chaff to avoid stingers and other types of attacks which are not well known.
In the rare case of suspicion a visual strip search is done in private under rabbinical supervision and not in front of anyone, while maintaining human dignity and they are not groped with gloved hands that are not changed, while maintaining Talmudic religious law. Also, from a medical standpoint, your scanners do put out a sizeable amount of radiation. My oncologist told me due to my surveillance scans for cancer, it is not advisable to go through the machine. Also, your enhanced pat downs are unacceptable personally because when I was a child I experienced a male sexual assault. That and 911 led to me being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD. So, having my testicles touched could trigger a response that I will regret. Therefore, I spend allot more money taking sleeping cars on trains. And I am hearing all this screening might be done on Amtrak now and malls. We are supposed to be living in a relativistic free society with the rule of law, based upon the constitution, which is a divinely inspired document that pushes respect for the fourth amendment and human rights. If it becomes a requirement for an American to submit to this humiliation by your agents, than the nature of our country has changed and has become more and more like NAZI Germany. One of my relatives that recently died was in the ghetto and had to kill hundreds of Germans just to survive asked why is American resembling pre-holocaust Germany. Hearing that and all about the watch lists that list dissidents opposed to the governments treatment of its citizens made me realize that he is right. This time, it may not only be the Jewish people they are after. As such, I may leave for Israel for good, not returning under the right of return laws even though I have dual citizenship but will ask for political asylum. If TSA wants security, they have to respect liberty at the same time looking at other ways. EL AL has far better security than we do..
Until then, I feel sad that my nation has changed for the worse. Rome is burning, and yet we don’t wake up. Perhaps you as a TSA agent should go to the Simon Wiesenthal center and learn from your mistakes. Not every order is lawfull. And don’t bother with the Nuremberg defense that we were ordered to do it because if a revolt of the plebes happen through the vote and we go back to constitutional governance TSA will have a allot to answer for. TSA will get respect when they learn to give it first as respect is earned and never freely given. Remember the NAZI’s used their own version of homeland security agency.
Shalom.
Philip B Kirschner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE2Y01E8HPU
a bit more of the undoing of America that was blocked from airing on cnn