The Internet has caused a 'Big Bang' of information free (so far) of the censorship of mainstream media.  Although there is a lot of disinformation, most of us are intelligent enough to discern quality from junk.  Therein lies the problem:  we're starting to think critically for ourselves and that endangers the real powers-that-be that hide behind and control our government - and almost every facet of our lives.  How did this happen?

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this country's open space was populated with pioneers, knowledgeable in the ways of being partly - if not completely - self-sufficient.  Confident, inventive, and free-thinking, they knew how to build their own homes, barns, etc. from whatever material was available; cultivate and irrigate the land, growing fruits, vegetables, and grains; raise and doctor cattle, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, for meat, milk, eggs, and wool; preserve their food by canning, smoking, pickling, drying; forage for wild foods and herbs; hunt and trap; fix whatever needed fixing; make their own clothes, candles, soap, tools.  They were skilled in folk medicine and first aid, such as suturing wounds.  They could read patterns in Nature to forecast weather and the seasons.  

School was available for those who wished to attend.  The three R's came easily to a child (or adult) when they decided they were ready to learn them. Children have an immense capacity to learn on their own, in their own time and pace.  People knew and cared about each other; there was a real sense of family and community, especially until just after the Civil War.  

As the nation became industrialized, the wealthiest families needed subservient workers for the repetitious, mind-numbing factory jobs.  These workers had to be easily controlled, plus consumers of the products the factories put out. Compulsory schooling eventially began churning out automatons essentially unable to think for themselves after 12 mind-numbing years of sitting in a classroom.  This is how easily just a few people changed the course of a nation with such promise to a materialistic society devoid of any real character and strength.  

John Taylor Gatto, award-winning New York City teacher for 30 years and author of "Dumbing Us Down" and "The Underground History of American Education," writes that, basically, schools teach seven lessons: 1) Confusion; 2) Class Position; 3) Indifference; 4) Emotional Dependency; 5) Intellectual Dependency; 6) Provisional Self-Esteem; 7) One Can't Hide.  He explains that, because school and television have taken so much time from kids, "...they are indifferent to the adult world...have no curiosity...have a poor sense of future...lack compassion...are cruel to each other...uneasy with intimacy or candor...are materialistic, dependent, passive, and timid."  

It isn't any wonder that we sit back, unquestioning, while our Constitution is blatantly shredded as government insinuates itself into and controls almost every aspect of our lives.  The last eight years have been the most disastrous in our history.  There is no doubt in my mind that the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were rigged to put in command an inept, paranoid stooge easily manipulated by the hidden powers.  As a result, corporate power has grown exponentially.  They control the media, medicine, banks, insurance; if it's big, they control it.

As we become more health conscious, they are trying their hardest to outlaw health supplements.  They bombard us with their drug commercials and make up diseases so we run to our doctors to tell them we need to take such-and-such.  Our children are bored in school, so they get fidgety--not to mention the crap they eat that can make them act out also--so a large percentage of kids are drugged.  Then there are the vaccinations still laden with mercury that they bully parents into giving their kids that can cause adverse reactions, including death.  It is becoming harder to home-school your own children--many states now require you have a teaching degree.  

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia served four terms in Congress as a Republican.  He switched parties after becoming alarmed at the Big Brother mentality of the Bush administration.  During his terms he cited, among others, these developments:  "...police agencies establishing DNA databases, electronic ID chips being placed in U.S. passports, helicopter surveillance in some big cities, surveillance cameras including two-way sound monitoring and communication systems in automobiles enabling eavesdropping...a program that allows federal agents to monitor phone calls, e-mail and other communications if one party is outside the country."

Most of us reading websites such as OEN know very well what's going on.  I wanted to point out a reason why these types of things have progressed as far as they have and try to slap some apathy out of us!