Fear for an individual's personal security common to a people whose leaders are taking their nation down the road to dictatorship has begun to grip America.
In church this Sunday one man said only half in jest, "When the arrests begin I will probably be the first one picked up." He told of a woman he knew personally just released from a mental institution in Texas where, he said, the Federal government had locked her up for a year after she tried to show officials "proof" Iraq's Saddam Hussein had no WMD.
I found this anecdote incredible until I recalled a recent reliable press account of a man arrested by the Secret Service merely for politely telling Vice President Cheney after hearing him speak that he disagreed with his policies.
Whether the story of the woman tossed into an asylum is factual, there are growing numbers of people who fear retribution for exercising their right of free speech. People warn their friends: Better not say that in public. Better not put that in writing.
After hearing the story of the woman's arrest, a second congregation member stood up to warn dictatorships commit their dark deeds out of sight of the general public. He told of growing up in Argentina under the junta, oblivious to the fact the torture barracks was within blocks of his home. Life went on normally even as people were murdered, and he prayed America would not suffer a like fate.
After the service, another church-goer circulated a petition seeking signatures in opposition to the Administration's Military Commissions Act that Amnesty International warned strips arrested captives of "any opportunity for meaningful judicial review."
The petition reflects the palpable fear the misery President Bush has inflicted upon military detainees in Guantanamo and elsewhere may soon become the fate of Americans as well.
This fear is spurred by a growing mistrust of, and anger towards, government. A majority of Americans, polls now tell us, think President Bush knew Iraq had no WMD when he made the war. In short, they regard the man as deceitful. And when people do not trust their leaders, they fear them and what they fear they also hate.
Columnist Molly Ivins long ago wrote in The Progressive magazine why she felt justified in hating President Bush. That feeling is spreading. Automobile bumper strips declare "Enough Bushit." People commonly refer to Bush in conversation as "King George." One Website dubs him, "The Smirking Chimp."
(During the Civil War, when anti-Administration newspapers compared President Lincoln to an ape it was based on their view he was a bungler rather than of any personal fear of the man.)
Among Democrats --- as among some conservative Republicans who feel their principles have been betrayed --- anger against the president is palpable. The New York Times reported Sunday, October 15th, "48 percent of Democrats say they are 'more enthusiastic about voting than usual'" in the midterm elections. "Enthusiastic," yes, as so many are actually furious. Much of what they write Congress is vitriolic.
Gays are among the more apprehensive. Their concern is heightened by GOP-sponsored referendums, such as the one on the Virginia ballot next month, prohibiting gay marriage. They worry about being officially stigmatized as second-class citizens. Liberals are also apprehensive. After all, right-wing radio talk personalities have long used the word "liberal" much as Hitler used the word "Jews."
Fear is also spread by press reports of people being denied civil liberties, such as being kept from boarding an airliner without an explanation; of foreign scholars denied teaching opportunities here because of their views; of foreign students denied the right to study here by State Department officials who give no reason for refusing visas.
Fear also spreads when those in government positions who speak the truth are demoted or dismissed. Public confidence is shaken when a general who disagrees on tactics in Iraq is dismissed and a high Army Corps of Engineers official is demoted for charging contracts are being let without competitive bids. There is a growing conviction a vindictive Bush regime will punish anyone who opposes it. This has a chilling impact on free expression.
Sherwood Ross has worked as a publicist for Chicago; as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News and workplace columnist for Reuters. He has also been a media consultant to colleges, law schools, labor unions, and to the editors of more than 100 national magazines. A civil rights activist, he was News Director for the National Urban League, a talk show host at WOL Radio, Washington, D.C., and holds an award for "best spot news coverage" for Chicago radio stations for civil rights reporting. He is the author "Gruening of Alaska,"(Best Books)and several plays about Japan during World War II, including "Baron Jiro," and "Yamamoto's Decision," read at the National Press Club, where he is a member. His favorite quotations are from the Sermon on The Mount.
The US has no friends because America has stated that it has total dominance to do as it pleases in space, bioweapons, chemical weapons, atomic weapons, spying on all other countries and will not hesitate to use force against any nation for reasons that the US determines. US defense department and Lord Bush and the sycophants in the other branch have told the world, "you're either with us or perish". It is up to the defense and the decider to determine who is against us.
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Jim Reinhart (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 60 comments)
on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 11:57:42 AM
Yes indeed, it is scary and that is why we can't let fear of retribution overcome our inherited right to dissent. Our thoughts should be focused on bringing an end to this psycotic war, the gutting of our Constitution and the illegal wheelin' and dealin' by our elected representitives. At no time in the history of The United States of America have our laws been trampled and our lives put in danger because of a dictatorial administration. If we continue on this path we will pay dearly. Make a stand and do the right thing on election day. It's still our right and in numbers lies victory over these Tyrants.
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RM Merrill (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 22 comments)
on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 6:02:45 PM
The arbitrary use of force that occurred during the French revolution is what inspired the creation of the Bill of Rights.
America now stands fully exposed as a "Criminal Autocracy" run at the behest of the International Members of the Merchant Murder class.
If not for nuclear weapons, our stand up comic in Chief has the potential to be hilarious.
The possession of nuclear weapons in the hands of a person who has promised to use them, and has never shied away from killing any man woman or child, should give all the human race pause to consider the magnitude of the crime, that has been perpetrated against the body of humanity.
Our current Fiend is merely carrying on with a decision that was made many years ago; to kill the mass of the human race with nuclear weapons.
This explains why the presence of "ET" remains classified above top secret. The only reason we still exist is due to the continuing intervention, from a group of higher level powers, that we do not even know who they are.
What we are facing is not merely a Fiend, it is rather a large well organized classes of "Fiends," committed to the absolute destruction of the human race with the use of nuclear weapons.
They understand all too well what happens when revolutions come. They planned long ago to kill everyone, to prevent what they suspect will be.
The Fiend class recognizes no government, other than whom ever that they can rob and murder.
Don't feel bad about the American government going into the shit can of history, the day the decision was made to destroy the human race with nuclear weapons, that was the day the government ended. Way back in 1947.
What more is there to say?
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Patrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 366 comments)
on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 1:13:28 AM
The Bush administration has shown that can or will do about anything to further its agenda. Peoples fear of a repressive dictatorship emerging from the GOP is not unfounded. What drives the Republicans to seek total power over the citizens of this great country? My opinion is the republican party has become a spineless slave to the corporate agenda. If our countries population is completely subdued then Bush and his fellow Republicans can turn America into a plutocracy or paradise for corporate rulers and the wealthy elite.
Corporate campaign money and influence is the real cause of this new found tyranny not Bush. They routinely buy polticians he is not the only corporatist. People should understand its our corporations who wish to enslave the citizens of America and their unbridled greed and deciet must be stopped for national security reasons. Multinational corporations have no sense of loyalty or patriotism they only seek out profit with no regard for the effects their actions may have on American citizens.Through clever education efforts about Adam Smith and free trade, corporations have fooled many people into believing a missrepresented theory and thus have taken control of our country. NAFTA is a prime example.
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Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 197 comments)
on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 5:29:13 PM
