See Something, Say Nothing

[This is an article by David Galland, who writes for Casey Research. In the original he embeds a piece by Pete Kofod, who wrote the excellent Rise of the Praetorian Class article I submitted awhile back. I deleted it from this post for length (translation: Eric would kill me or worse yet, throw me in the woods with Clover) but I will submit the Kofod article as a separate post following this one, if Eric will indulge me. However, I did leave in a nice nugget that I couldn’t resist.]

See Something, Say Nothing

Dear Readers,

One of the more noxious platitudes foisted upon the public by our increasingly Orwellian government is “See Something, Say Something.” This saying, of course, differs in no material way from the sort of propaganda utilized in all the fascist states that have come before.

While this notion of spying on fellow citizens hasn’t yet resulted in the active enlistment of a Stasi-like network of sharp-eyed matrons and meddlesome old coots embedded in apartment buildings and on each city block to dutifully report goings-on to the authorities “for national security,” can that be far behind?

But that’s not what has gotten sand under my saddle this week. No, what has irked me to the point of distraction – not to mention triggering some angry mutterings as I stomp around the house – could be considered the exact opposite of that trite trope.
What I’m referring to is the modus operandi of Americans today to see something but say nothing.

More specifically, this week the US government made it clear that they effectively have decided to adopt a new and very dangerous interpretation of one of the core principles of the US Constitution, and apparently nobody cares.

I am referring to a presentation earlier this week by United States Atty. Gen. Eric Holder at Northwestern University’s law school. Reading from prepared remarks – meaning his words were not a flub-up – Holder explained the rationale the government is now using when ordering the killings of American citizens. And I quote…

Some have argued that the President is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. “Due process” and “judicial process” are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.
It is important when reading this sort of thing to separate the inconsequential historical anecdotes – the “here and now” elements of no lasting importance – from the language related to setting long-term precedence. To assist you in that regard, I will now repeat Holder’s statement, with the anecdotal elements redacted.

Some have argued that the President is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate. “Due process” and “judicial process” are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.

Simply put, what the administration is now claiming as standard operating policy is that it can formulate certain procedures on an ad-hoc basis and call it “due process.” Provided their functionaries follow that process, the government is free to do virtually anything, in this instance, kill citizens.

Note also that Holder doesn’t make a distinction between targeting US citizens here versus abroad. This is a blanket statement.

When I initially read Holder’s remarks, I was sure there would be a massive outpouring of popular indignation, outrage even. And I confess to hoping that maybe, just maybe, this would be the final straw to get the citizenry off their couches to put an end to this long step down the path of fascism.

But there was barely a peep. No cries for Holder’s resignation, or for Obama’s impeachment, either of which would have been entirely appropriate in a nation where the citizenry hadn’t already been cowed.

It was also telling that even though Holder’s declaration of the administration’s coup against the constitution was delivered at a law school, the audience didn’t rise to their feet in shock but rather waited politely for him to conclude his remarks before rewarding him the obligatory applause. Given that these were students of the law and so should know better, I can only conclude that even though they saw something – in this case the ungloved hand of fascism – they decided to say nothing.

That could be, perhaps, because of another law recently passed by Congress with an overwhelming 388-3 majority. I refer, of course, to the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011, otherwise known as the Trespass Bill.
John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute writes intelligently on the bill. Some snippets… emphasis mine.

The Trespass Bill (the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011) creates a roving “bubble” zone or perimeter around select government officials and dignitaries (anyone protected by the Secret Service), as well as any building or grounds “restricted in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance.”

Current law makes it illegal to enter or remain in an area where certain government
officials (more particularly, those with Secret Service protection) will be visiting temporarily if and only if the person knows it’s illegal to enter the restricted area but does so anyway. The bill expands current law to make it a crime to enter or remain in an area where an official is visiting even if the person does not know it’s illegal to be in that area and has no reason to suspect it’s illegal.

In other words, you can be minding your own business some place when a member of the elite enters, and his or her mere presence sucks you into their federally protected “bubble” where a single false move, intentional or otherwise, can end up very badly.

You can read the full article here.

There is, as I always try to point out, much nuance in all of this. But stepping back to view the larger picture reveals what Holder’s remarks so clearly confirm – the nation has now crossed the line separating a constitutional democracy from a fascist state.

On flying into JFK last weekend and watching a friend’s middle-aged wife separated from her children in order to go through a pat-down by one of dozens of TSA personnel, most of whom were standing around in groups chatting collegially (maybe about their phat compensation), I felt compelled to turn to my own kids and say, “I hope that someday your generation will forgive our generation for leaving the world in this condition for you.”

Of course, I am not alone in seeing the signs of fascism cropping up on an almost daily basis. But at this point the masses are literally too scared to say something, other than perhaps in quiet whispers behind closed doors.

Even when the level of fascist control over society is as blatant as was in evidence earlier this week when a group of very average citizens gathered to peacefully protest a new law passed by the state of Virginia requiring women to submit to a government-mandated ultrasound before being allowed to have an abortion. Fellow Casey editor and Virginia resident Doug Hornig reports on the action…”What happened here is that there was a protest against the bill at the state capitol, which of course is off limits for such actions. A SWAT team moved in with full riot gear – there was a long line of them decked out with opaque visors, tasers, batons, rifles, dogs, etc. Deployed against about 500 middle-aged women and aging hippie guys. Now there’s a threat to the public order. This is one chilling video. If you want to cut to the chase, forward to about the eight-minute mark…”

Note that the state police standing watch over this very pedestrian and entirely constitutional exercise of free speech were armed with machine guns, once again a clear indication of just how far the nation’s controlling classes – federal, state and local – have goose-stepped onto the path of fascism.

Sadly, with Pandora’s box kicked wide open by 9/11, feeding into the natural tendencies of the praetorian class to exercise its might, there is no painless way to go back. Rather, you have to expect that things will only get worse, especially if there is another “event” that gives the authorities license to put into action all of the clampdown plans implemented since 9/11.

Which brings me to an article by technology specialist and ex-military officer Pete Kofod, whose articles dissecting the nature of fascism and the growing praetorian class we have previously published.

As an aside, over the last half a year or so, Pete took some time away from his busy schedule as the owner of a company specializing in cloud computing solutions to create a truly unique five-day training program to help individuals and executives harden their lives against modern threats. More on that course in a moment, but first Pete’s article.

[Kofod article deleted, all but this snippet: “Recognize that social unrest can happen anywhere, including “here.” During social unrest, the government is not your friend. Their objective is to restore their order. Think Katrina.”]

The Galland article resumes:

Added Thoughts on the Race Condition

Before moving on to other matters (sorry, I appear to be running a bit long today), I want to quickly follow up on the key point of Pete’s article. Namely the establishment’s well-documented fear that social media will be turned against it, just as it was in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and elsewhere.

The power of social media was once again made clear by a recent campaign against a small-time warlord, Joseph Kony, mounted by the Invisible Children organization with the specific purpose of targeting him for arrest or summary execution, therefore setting “a precedent for international justice” (in their words).

Even though the video you can watch was only uploaded about a week ago, it has already received almost 53,000,000 views – accomplishing the goal of making Kony enemy #1, with his face splashed across all the world’s media outlets. Want to bet that we will soon learn that Congress is calling for special hearings to decide what to do about the guy? Or that political candidates will soon be calling for drone strikes?

All well and good, but don’t kid yourself – the power elite is watching these developments with much the same frame of mind as a tourist on a walking safari watches a pride of lions from what they hope is a safe distance.

Think about it. That 53,000,000 people could be moved to not only watch the Kony videos, but that a vocal subset of that number then organized in the equivalent of flash mobs in schools and communities to lend their active support to his downfall… around the globe and all in the space of about a week, has got to be eye-opening to the powers-that-be.

In one real sense, social media provide global access to the equivalent of a societal nuclear bomb. All that’s required to set one off are the modest skills necessary to deploying it.

So, how long do you think it will be before a major Western government – maybe even the US, or specific US politicians – become the target?

Want to see a really cool straw in the wind? Check out these videos put together by the folks at MTV. They are a stunning condemnation, and an effective warning, against the encroaching police state in the US. Those videos show there might yet be some hope for the next generation. So far, they have only pulled 480,000 views on YouTube, but who knows – maybe they’ll catch on. (And, yes, please pass this along so others can watch them, too.)

But if you are a member of the praetorian class whose job is to protect the status quo, the powerful potential of social media to effect political change – quickly and even violently, if you take what’s going on in the Middle East as an example – has to be very concerning.

So, I think that Pete’s got it completely right – that the race is on, and that it has the very real potential to get quite ugly before whatever comes next makes it across the finish line.

While vigilance is required to not get caught on the wrong side of things, there’s also a big upside in all of this. That’s because it’s just a matter of time now – certainly within the lives of most of us, judging by the speed of adoption of the relevant technology – that we are going to see a new paradigm in government, one that tosses over the equivalent of government operating on the outdated model of Sarnoff’s Law, to one based on something closer to Reed’s Law.

Which brings me to a great quote that Doug Casey used in closing out the just-released edition of The Casey Report…

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion.
When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing.
When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors.
When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you.
When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed.
-Ayn Rand, 1958

Society as we know it is doomed, and as Holder’s speech so chillingly revealed, it is degrading quickly. That raises the possibility that the new media are going to turn their guns on the status quo in the near future.

While I was fairly derisive in my critique of Occupy Wall Street, and I stand by my observations, I suspect that given the widely distributed nature of the media, what’s next will almost certainly be a derivation of the mindset of the people behind that movement. Which is to say highly socialistic in nature, with all the attendant consequences for the economy in general and for those of us who value individualism most highly.

In that we really can’t foresee how things are going to unfold from here, you might as well go happily about your life – just don’t forget to make like the ant in the Aesop’s famous fable and prepare for the transition that’s now under way.