Barbed wire net in Tuol Sleng prison The surveillance-police State is nothing more than a mask, a massive failure to solve deeper problems. It is important for all citizens to examine the true nature of the State and what it will take in reality to bring long-term, enduring security to our people.
I don’t regret the knowledge I earned through my youthful and good faith enlistment in the U.S. Army, believing that doing so would protect and serve the best interests our country.
But would I enlist again knowing what I know now, knowing how far we are from where we could be? The answer, unfortunately, is no.
This experience of being involved in the Iraq War taught me hard truths, which are now my duty to share with my fellow countrymen, those who are also interested in human rights and human liberty.
This is also an important message to those who have been fooled by "give us all your liberty and we will give you security" propaganda and those who confuse the surveillance-police State with a representative Republic or with long-term, enduring security.
I served in uniform in Iraq. Our unit, the soldiers I served with whom I will forever respect, love and support, purified water in the combat zone in the areas surrounding Babylon. Being near Babylon, and visiting the ruins of this ancient city, I had the opportunity to think about Babylon in all its forms, where mankind is and where we may be going.
Do not choose to get me wrong. The world is a dangerous, violent place. One group of ruthless men will be determined to rule the world, no matter what the consequences. We, as a country, are better off on the top than on the bottom. We are better off maintaining our liberty to the full extent possible.
But it is important to recognize first and foremost that such ruthless men and petty dictators live not only in other countries, but also live within our own borders. The old phrase, "wolves in sheep's clothing," applies to those at the top, those who hijack the State to serve their interests, who do not respect the great responsibility that comes with their position. To these ruthless people, the blood of our brothers and sisters is nothing more than another money-making, power-grabbing opportunity.
What one has today one may not have tomorrow. If you are on the top, it is easy to lose what you have through corruption, losing accountability, believing in your own myths, wishful thinking and putting all of your faith into false gods.
There is much more to being on the top and much more to long-term security than any advocate of the surveillance-police State would have people believe.
Like any man who has climbed to the top, any State which has managed to become the world’s most powerful State is also in a particularly dangerous situation and must be that much more careful, wise, accountable and responsible than other States, if it can have a reasonable expectation of maintaining its position. The misuse and abuse of power means the loss of power.
Today 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars, meaning that countless people on the bottom are imprisoned under false "law" for false "crimes" within a massive prison-industrial complex involving billions of dollars. As this is happening, the few on the top responsible for the most heinous and widespread acts of violence, those who have broken the most basic and fundamental law known to man, such as the law against theft and murder, are not being held accountable for their crimes.
Defense of our families is paramount, but here we are speaking of TRUE defense, meaning defense which serves the interests of the people as a whole.
We are not talking about an aristocracy’s version of "security," which is arbitrary and artificial. The surveillance-police State's version of "security" is much more about rule of power, about hijacking the State and its security apparatus to benefit an aristocracy and not the people. When an aristocracy rules the State, what should be the people's Defense Department becomes the aristocracy's Offense Department, for example.
Likewise, it is important for everyone to understand that to the people at the top, "Homeland Security" only means one thing: Protecting only their homes and their lands, meaning their gated-community estates, gold, and so on, even as the people lose their homes, jobs that pay living wages, retirements and more under a massive corrupt system in which the deck is stacked completely against working people from the day we are born until the day we die.
The King's spies protect the King and his barons, not the people. Yet even a child can see the "Emperor wears no clothes."
The fake version of "security" manifested in the surveillance-police State is actually no true security at all, quite the opposite. The growth of the surveillance-police State also means the growth of the most violent crime perpetrated by those at the top and the growth of instability.
(Note: Share this post! This is the second of a series of posts by author and Iraq War veteran Theodore Webb concerning questions about security and the true nature of the State. For a full description of the great dangers of the surveillance-police State, read my novel, "The STARLING Connection.")
(Photo information: Barbed wire net in Tuol Sleng prison, Cambodia. Author Dudva. This file is used according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.)
I don’t regret the knowledge I earned through my youthful and good faith enlistment in the U.S. Army, believing that doing so would protect and serve the best interests our country.
But would I enlist again knowing what I know now, knowing how far we are from where we could be? The answer, unfortunately, is no.
This experience of being involved in the Iraq War taught me hard truths, which are now my duty to share with my fellow countrymen, those who are also interested in human rights and human liberty.
This is also an important message to those who have been fooled by "give us all your liberty and we will give you security" propaganda and those who confuse the surveillance-police State with a representative Republic or with long-term, enduring security.
I served in uniform in Iraq. Our unit, the soldiers I served with whom I will forever respect, love and support, purified water in the combat zone in the areas surrounding Babylon. Being near Babylon, and visiting the ruins of this ancient city, I had the opportunity to think about Babylon in all its forms, where mankind is and where we may be going.
Do not choose to get me wrong. The world is a dangerous, violent place. One group of ruthless men will be determined to rule the world, no matter what the consequences. We, as a country, are better off on the top than on the bottom. We are better off maintaining our liberty to the full extent possible.
But it is important to recognize first and foremost that such ruthless men and petty dictators live not only in other countries, but also live within our own borders. The old phrase, "wolves in sheep's clothing," applies to those at the top, those who hijack the State to serve their interests, who do not respect the great responsibility that comes with their position. To these ruthless people, the blood of our brothers and sisters is nothing more than another money-making, power-grabbing opportunity.
What one has today one may not have tomorrow. If you are on the top, it is easy to lose what you have through corruption, losing accountability, believing in your own myths, wishful thinking and putting all of your faith into false gods.
There is much more to being on the top and much more to long-term security than any advocate of the surveillance-police State would have people believe.
Like any man who has climbed to the top, any State which has managed to become the world’s most powerful State is also in a particularly dangerous situation and must be that much more careful, wise, accountable and responsible than other States, if it can have a reasonable expectation of maintaining its position. The misuse and abuse of power means the loss of power.
Today 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars, meaning that countless people on the bottom are imprisoned under false "law" for false "crimes" within a massive prison-industrial complex involving billions of dollars. As this is happening, the few on the top responsible for the most heinous and widespread acts of violence, those who have broken the most basic and fundamental law known to man, such as the law against theft and murder, are not being held accountable for their crimes.
Defense of our families is paramount, but here we are speaking of TRUE defense, meaning defense which serves the interests of the people as a whole.
We are not talking about an aristocracy’s version of "security," which is arbitrary and artificial. The surveillance-police State's version of "security" is much more about rule of power, about hijacking the State and its security apparatus to benefit an aristocracy and not the people. When an aristocracy rules the State, what should be the people's Defense Department becomes the aristocracy's Offense Department, for example.
Likewise, it is important for everyone to understand that to the people at the top, "Homeland Security" only means one thing: Protecting only their homes and their lands, meaning their gated-community estates, gold, and so on, even as the people lose their homes, jobs that pay living wages, retirements and more under a massive corrupt system in which the deck is stacked completely against working people from the day we are born until the day we die.
The King's spies protect the King and his barons, not the people. Yet even a child can see the "Emperor wears no clothes."
The fake version of "security" manifested in the surveillance-police State is actually no true security at all, quite the opposite. The growth of the surveillance-police State also means the growth of the most violent crime perpetrated by those at the top and the growth of instability.
(Note: Share this post! This is the second of a series of posts by author and Iraq War veteran Theodore Webb concerning questions about security and the true nature of the State. For a full description of the great dangers of the surveillance-police State, read my novel, "The STARLING Connection.")
(Photo information: Barbed wire net in Tuol Sleng prison, Cambodia. Author Dudva. This file is used according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.)
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