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by Author Name Withheld 126

Created on: June 29, 2009   Last Updated: July 07, 2009

How is it possible to believe that the United States is becoming a police state? This is like asking if a dragon is becoming a wolf. It has evolved far beyond the meager repressive reach and power of a police state. Decades ago, this argument could have been justified; however, countless narratives and propaganda campaigns have already controlled the people.

A police sate has no further purpose once a people have submitted. There is a risk in maintaining a police state or marshal law for too long. The people are more likely to rebel or remain at a constant state of civil unrest. After the initial surge to control the people, power is restructured to assure peaceful compliance. The actual policing force is then greatly reduced because of the lowered need. They will respond only to newly rising immediate threats.

The first transition away from a police state is government controlled education. Freedom of the mind precedes all other expression, so this is the root of a free society. All of the founders understood this principle. We have public education now because some believed it was the means to secure liberty, yet is has just as much power to distort and manipulate. The first sign of a repressive government is interference in that process. Does the current education system prepare free thinkers or adept vocationally trained subjects?

We could go over each of these subjects for pages, so consider this an outline. Influencing culture through propaganda is the next step in transition. This begins with education and flows outward into every aspect of daily life. Over time, the influence is secure enough to remove the most visible attributes that might, upon awareness, spark new conflict. All that you need to do is view the cultural shift between 1940 and 1980 because this was the core of those campaigns.

Prior to this shift, you view a much wider range of public expression. As you near the middle, a very refined picture emerges of public American culture. It is clear that something has changed the perception of these people and how they view reality. There is no innocent excuse for such ignorance to suddenly emerge. None of those generations viewed the world for what it really was and idealistic visions cannot maintain revolutions. Through the progression, each believed they had more control while actually maintaining less.

With the shift in government to a welfare system, they were forced to accept that freedom was no longer a right. They all began to believe that it was a privilege. This allowed a police force to emerge that protected and served the privilege rather than the right. The government also took this opportunity to infringe upon fundamental liberties. The trusting people granted them a much wider reaching control, but this violated the nature of the republic.

The uneducated and dazed people could not understand that it is no longer freedom when you place it in a leader's hand. It is no longer liberty when it is called a privilege. The beginning of this decline can be traced further back to the events that led to this corruption. It was a great concern of early Americans that international bankers would destroy all that they worked and fought hard to secure. Allowing them access to our money created the problems that led into the propaganda eras.

They worked overtime to create growth and allowed people to buy into this principle of infinite expansion. Like a drug, the American people now valued expansion and credit more than substance and worth. That proved to be a mistaken concept as they lost all leverage. The damage was already done. Instead of following notions of freedom, they believed that it was now about restoring wealth... A wealth that was never really there. This became associated with freedom.

You cannot control a free person, but you can control someone with an addiction. They believe so strongly that money is liberty that they now served it beyond their senses. Anyone else would have rebelled and taken their fill, yet they were passive while others horded and secured more power. It couldn't be any more clear, yet that ignorance of people alone should be a sign.

Following back into the later eras, industries began to use this excess wealth to influence media and production. It was now possible to begin to manipulate the people. A bond formed between industry and government. This allowed for the evolution of a police state. Powerful private organizations, as with the monetary regulators and lenders, could manipulate the people. First, the automakers and oil companies stepped forward with governmental support and funding for roads.

This shift may also seem innocent, but who controls access to these roads? The individual now required access for daily life, yet they could use them again only as a privilege. Over and over that word comes into play. Over all of this time, the people accepted greater extents of their lives; were fortunate and granted beyond their own will. Other industries served a separate function. Tobacco companies led right into the era that would extend beyond 1980.

The government claimed to be waging a war on drugs. This didn't include easily taxable regulated addictions such as tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. Oddly, these drugs also carry dependable profitable users. This reach would extend also into prescription medicines and insurance. In essence, taxing addictive substances makes the government into drug dealers. They profit knowingly from an addiction that they necessitate.

It is funny that some people may argue that the government tries to take their right to smoke. If they really cared, they wouldn't sell them. That isn't going to happen because they generate too much tax revenue. The entire process is part of the larger scheme of making you feel as if you have privilege. Rather than being offended about rising taxes, you end up worried about not being able to smoke as much.

That is what happens after a police state. Misdirection takes the place of brute force. You end up buying into and supporting a cause that actually betrays your own interest. The largest argument that will come up is that people are not limited in expression. There could be a debate that some dominant culture restricts that expression; however, this is just life. That is actually part of freedom. What we miss is how important it is that a voice is heard.

You can hold someone down, but that will make the voice louder to each listener. The police state must escalate with each action and eventually will fail. Instead, the effort is to discredit the person and mislead the audience. One common tactic of this is to place false sources of faith. The political parties are a good example of this tactic. You are so worried about the two major parties, even though neither serves your cause. They talk in circles, lie, break your will, and have successfully defeated your resolve to rebel.

When tensions get high, a new figure will emerge with charisma to gain your confidence. No iron fist, but a friendly face that you trust. The police will come if you become a threat, but you will be seen as a radical. Do you think anyone will call this action of a police state? No, because it isn't. It is something greater. Those who watch do not see horror or fear, the tools of such a system. Instead, they will feel pride and a sense of justice. They don't see free people. They don't understand freedom. They only see expansion and credit. They wish to risk neither because it is the privilege they have earned.

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