Learning To Obey
by Chester Brost
Freedom is slipping out of our hands. In the United States people are losing ancient legal rights. We ar searched without warrants, forced to give evidence against ourselves, and denied the right to self-protection, and prosecuted for our points of view. Our assets are brutally confiscated. Some of us are denied jury trials, tried twice for the same deed, or imprisoned entirely without charges. It took 227 years for this country to incarcerate its first one million citizens, and only took 10 years to incarcerate its second.

We are under surveillance whenever we bank, drive the highways, or enter a public place. Our most private records are available for inspection by authorities. We must get permission to perform ordinary tasks. Hospitals give government ID numbers to our children at birth. Schools subject our children to arbitrary searches: they drug (Ritalin), expel- and sometimes even arrest children whose thoughts or demeanor don't convey proper submission. And when did it become the norm to use the term "lock-down" in our public schools, communities and businesses? The last time I checked that was something that they do in prison.

Everyday we pick up the newspaper, click onto a website, or tune in our televisions to hear of another no-knock SWAT raid, another death at the hands of police, another act of brutality or corruption, another outrage going unpunished solely because the perpetrator is a member of the elite. Laws and regulations choke us until we can scarcely breathe, let alone breath freely.

More laws, more crimes. More crimes, more criminals. More criminals, more prisoners. More prisoners, more prisons. More prisons, more money! Not a moment goes by that you can not turn on your television and watch a crime about a brutal killer, a serial rapist or a child molester, as if the world were teaming with these individuals: when in fact, they make up the smallest percentage of crime.

New television programs seem to spring up everyday: A&E (Art and Entertainment) "Cold Case Files:" Forensic Files;" "Trial Heat;" etc. Lets not exclude "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit;" "CSI: Crime scene Investigation;" "The New Detectives;" "The FBI Files;" How about "NYPD Blue;" "The Shield;" "Cops;" "America's Most Wanted;" and even "The Practice." Good programming? Or psychological conditioning! Modern day PROPAGANDA! Yes this propaganda does exist and it is being conveniently forced into our heads in the comfort of our own homes.

These programs only go to scare, mislead and even reassure the masses that the nearly 2 million incarcerated fellow American citizens are actually guilty and belong imprisoned. Do you really believe that a criminal can be apprehended because he breathed in a room, or that it is alright for a police officer to stomp on your head while you are lying face down with your hands hand cuffed behind your back? Keep watching and you soon will. And the more prisons they build, the more programs will be produced. They MUST reinforce this multi-billion dollar industry.

Is America becoming a police state? That is not quite the same as asking, is America becoming a dictatorship? Or is America becoming a tyrannical state? Tyranny, dictatorship, and police states are related. But a police state is a distinctive form of government. When was the last time you heard the word empire in reference to this country?

As America is being altered and becoming less free, historic police states serve as a point of reference for examination. The similarities ar chilling. A police state is brutal, yes. But it is also persuasive. Its premises seem reasonable, its actions necessary for the good of all. That is precisely why it is such a danger.

The United States IS FULFILLING the police state model, all in the name of social betterment or security. It is not a pleasant picture. But if we are to have any hope of undoing the damage, of winning back our freedoms, we must examine, and understand the means by which we are losing them, or you too, will be LEARNING TO OBEY.

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