What About the Status of American Governance?

What do we do when the federal government that we have in place is far more intrusive and has way more advanced technology than anything imagined under King George III’s British Empire? What happens when most of the states, once thought to be a bulwark against federal tyranny, jump in line to protect our institutions over preserving our liberties? Do the people keep complying with the orders from up high, or do we elevate our appeal to God and rid ourselves of our earthly masters? Should we take matters into our own hands, or should we render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and just roll over and let tyranny reign?

Should we protect our early traditions and stay neutral in foreign affairs and not go looking overseas for monsters to destroy, as John Quincy Adams once opined? Should we stay out of foreign conflicts, as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson urged? Will our entangling alliances with Europe, via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Ukraine, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel lead us into direct conflict with China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea? Have our founding fathers’ words become too antiquated, and our modern times now require our military to be deployed to almost every country on earth? Has empire building become the only way to keep our country safe and national security and democracy secured?

Should we fight or fund global wars in order to maintain the status quo and keep the profits flowing to the military-industrial complex and defense contractors? Must the American Empire force every nation to comply with its demands or face sanctions, invasions, covert operations, drone strikes, or proxy wars? Or, can we find a better way that involves peace, diplomacy, voluntary trade between nations, and an understanding that we can set an example for the rest of the world to follow without needing to overthrow foreign governments or bully them into submission?

Why do we allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on us through our online activity, smart televisions and cellphones, and third-party companies? Are we not free from unreasonable and unwarranted searches and seizures? Is it acceptable that the federal government collects and stores our data? Must we live in fear that federal agents will find something and use it against us later on, or should we not worry about this because we have nothing to hide? Should we just accept that privacy is a thing of the past and that Uncle Sam really needs to know everything that we do and say?

Have we lost the ability to freely speak, write, and post what we want? Do we allow the government to censor our information through social media companies and to monitor everything that we do online? When the government finds an unpopular opinion or one that runs contrary to the official narrative, is it considered normal for it to request, with the backing of force and ability to punish those who do not comply, that those posts be eliminated from the online space?

Has the government embarked on a crusade to hunt down misinformation and protect the populace from seeing or reading words that do not line up with the values of our national character, as declared by our officials? Do conspiracy theorists, such as Alex Jones, need to be raided by federal agents and shut down because they push one idea that is not only considered disgusting by the average person but also turned out to be wrong in the end? Does freedom of speech not mean that such people are protected from legal consequences and not forced to pay one billion dollars to families seeking to make a buck and silence someone who has political views that may be offensive? Should hate speech be punished under the law? Should we all just be led toward a single national narrative like sheep to a pasture?

Should whistleblowers who shine light on unethical conduct overseas or the ever-expanding and powerful surveillance state be punished as enemies of the state under the Espionage Act? Should we imprison those who speak out about such things? Should January 6th protesters be hunted down, sometimes with militarized units, to the ends of the country and spied on by federal bureaus because they walked through the Capitol on a day of an important procedure where the government decided that less security was necessary and that agents would infiltrate the protests in order to set the narrative that Trump supporters are violent thugs and a threat to national security?     

Should we jail our political opponents? If one party wants to eliminate someone off of the ballot, is it acceptable to dig deep to find misdemeanors or other minor infractions from several years earlier, of which other politicians also commit on a regular basis and get away with, upgrade them to felonies, and then strategically place the trial right before election season? Or, would it be better to just have state officials strip certain candidates and parties from ballot access outright? Is this really what democracy is all about?

And speaking about democracy, is that what it is called when federal bureaucracies determine legislation, rules, and laws that affect citizens instead of the actual representatives who are allegedly elected by the people? When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues regulations about the air or wants to ban appliances without congressional approval, or the Department of Labor bypasses the legislature to require all businesses over 100 employees to have their workforce stick a Big Pharma needle in their bodies without consideration for bodily autonomy, or the Department of Education defies the Supreme Court and Congress by unilaterally declaring that some college debt, which is voluntarily taken by students, is forgiven and forced onto taxpayers; is this the democratic paradise that many espouse? When Congress passes bills with thousands of unrelated agenda items or spending priorities and then sends the newly-created laws to the bureaucracy to create its own de facto legislation on such matters, are the people really choosing what happens with their money? Is it permissible in a supposed democratic republic for the elected body of the people to delegate law-making powers to unelected oligarchical entities?

Should we continue permitting corporations to control policies through revolving doors and backroom deals with politicians? Should we go to war for the sake of profit? Should we force pharmaceutical drugs on the populace because politicians and bureaucrats may eventually find themselves on the board of directors or employed in some other capacity by Pfizer or Moderna? Should politicians get rich off of their positions? Should we allow the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to threaten candidates and elected officials who do not comply 100% with the interests of a foreign nation, and is it acceptable to have a contact person in each American congressional district to ensure compliance with the Israeli government’s agenda?

Where does the real power in American politics lie? Why do people think that a dementia-ridden and senile figurehead of the American Empire is actually running the country and determining policies? Have we lost our collective minds? Will we ever wake up as a society and challenge all of these things before it is too late?

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.