By: Gary D. Barnett
I wrote this article in April of 2011, and this is my “Blast From the Past” article this month. I am highlighting this article in the wake of the new Coronavirus scare that has consumed the
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April 23, 2011
I must’ve have dreamed a thousand dreams
Been haunted by a million screams
I can hear the marching feet
They’re moving into the street
~ From the first verse of the song Land of Confusion by Phil Collins and Genesis [1986]
Obviously, those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, and other parts of the Middle East understand fully the sound of marching feet in their streets. U.S. soldiers carrying out the orders of those in command over them have been marching there for many years. They have brutalized those mostly innocent people all over that region, and in the process, entire infrastructures have been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and maimed, and aggressive occupations have become the norm. This is only the beginning, and most Americans don’t expect nor do they realize that the probability of marching feet in our own streets is great. This will not come from invaders from abroad, but by our own federal government and its agents in the police and military.
These things rarely happen all at once due to the danger to the ruling class of an uprising by the people. Generally, liberty and freedom are taken away over long periods of time, and the masses at large are little aware of this very dangerous slippery slope. That slope however, has become much steeper and now is covered in ice. Just consider the time line of liberty destruction in the past ten years since 9/11.
George W. Bush created by Executive Order 13228 the Office of Homeland Security and the Homeland Security Council just 11 days after the 9/11 attacks.
On October 26, 2001, Bush signed the horrible USA PATRIOT Act into “law.” This in my opinion is not only the lynchpin in the devastating assault on civil liberty, but the most liberty destructive piece of legislation ever passed into law in United States history.
In January of 2002, the Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established to bring together several government projects focused on applying surveillance to monitor “terrorist” and “other” threats to national security. This was to be done by achieving Total Information Awareness which entailed creating an enormous computer database to capture and store the personal information of everyone in the United States, including personal emails, credit card records, social networks, phone records, medical records, and much more without any requirement for a search warrant. Although defunded by Congress in 2003, these projects continued to be funded, and continue to take place under different names.
The Department of Homeland Security was established on November 25, 2002. This monster has grown to become a massive bureaucracy that controls most every single aspect of our lives today.
The now groping and child molesting Transportation Security Agency (TSA) was moved from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security in March of 2003. This was the beginning of the end for all those U.S. citizens who want to have free movement in their own country. Now, one has to be baked in radiation, sexually assaulted, or both by the cretins at the TSA in order to travel.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 was an act of Congress signed by Bush to authorize trial by military commission of so-called violators of war and for “other purposes.” One can only imagine all the “other purposes.” This legislation basically stripped all rights from any individual captured or targeted by the U.S. government, so they could be held indefinitely and without proper charge or trial. This suspension of rights virtually eliminates any semblance of freedom or justice. This Act was amended in 2009, but as amended, still falls far short of providing any real due process as required by the constitution. While there is argument as to whether this Act affects the rights of habeas corpus, only an agent of the state could believe otherwise. Habeas corpus has been effectively rendered moot for any, including Americans, targeted by the government.
In October of 2008, the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, a very “elite” combat squad, became the first active duty military unit to be dedicated and deployed for domestic use. This means the virtual elimination of the protections afforded us by the Posse Comitatus Act against federal military forces acting as domestic police. This is certainly an important step toward the implementation of Martial Law.
In January of 2010, President Obama signed Executive Order 13528, which established the Council of Governors. These governors are appointed directly by the president for the stated purpose of building a state/national police partnership. This fascist partnership was put into place to build a “legal” partnership between the federal government’s national military force and the domestic police agencies, so that they became one and the same. The scariest part about this is that this force would be fully controlled by the executive branch of government, making this a federally controlled domestic police force! I wrote about this here.
In 2010 Obama authorized the targeting of U.S. citizens for assassination, thus continuing another heinous Bush policy. Glenn Greenwald of Solon discussed this policy in detail previously.
I have only touched the surface of course, as these things are only a few of the most obvious invasions of our liberty, but as you can see, these past ten years have brought an avalanche of liberty destroying policies and legislation to our doorstep. We are being bombarded continuously with more bad laws and more police state abuses. This behavior is increasing at an alarming rate, and the populace it seems is still mostly unresponsive to these intrusions by government.
Due to all these government actions, the stage has been set for Martial Law. But will it come, and if so, what events will trigger this state assault on us all? First, just consider where we are currently as a nation. Economically speaking, we are in dire straits. The national debt now stands at 14.3 trillion dollars. That doesn’t count all the hidden debt owed by the taxpayers that is sitting at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is several trillion dollars more. Also not included are the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare, and Prescription Drugs, which total over 113 trillion dollars. Current annual deficits are running above 1.5 trillion dollars with no end in sight. And the Fed continues to create money out of thin air, and the government keeps spending. This is a recipe for disaster.
Real unemployment as calculated by the well-respected John Williams at Shadow Government Statistics is 22%, which means that approximately 33,000,000 people are now out of work. The government is only reporting 8.8% by its fraudulent U-3 method, or 13,000,000. When this many people are out of work, a huge drain on the system is the result, and desperation takes hold.
The U.S. killing machine is now openly advancing aggressive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, and is covertly involved in military actions in several other countries. Besides murdering innocents abroad, the cost to run the military and to prosecute these immoral wars is over a trillion dollars a year.
Predator drones are being used to murder people in the Middle East on a regular basis, but they are also being used for domestic law enforcement. These computer game-like spying drones can be used for surveillance, and they can also be used for target killing. The fact that they are flying over our towns and cities is frightening.
Our money is being purposely destroyed every single day so that this corrupt government can monetize the massive debt it created. The Federal Reserve is a most willing accomplice in this scheme to bankrupt our society. If in fact our money continues to lose value at this pace, and massive or hyperinflation is the result, our wealth will simply disappear.
The state governments are in deep trouble as well, and they don’t have the power of the printing press to temporarily cover up their mistakes. State pensions are broke in some cases, and vastly underfunded for future obligations in most others. When the checks stop going out, frustration and anger will take over.
The TSA gropes, fondles, and intimidates those traveling daily. This is done to instill fear, and to habituate the sheep like populace into a herd mentality. It is meant to turn the citizens into serfs. The abusive and brutal behavior by state and local police, and other agents of the government, is increasing dramatically. It is increasing in numbers, but it is also increasing in severity. In 2007, Paul Craig Roberts wrote about this in his article titled America’s Police Brutality Pandemic, but since the time of that writing, this problem has increased exponentially, and is still worsening.
As I said earlier, the stage is set for a police state takeover of our streets. The government has in place all the legislation, tools, and gendarmes it needs to implement Martial Law. It has a militarized police system armed and ready to act. It has a domestic military force trained in urban warfare. It has holding centers ready to house those who don’t go along or who practice civil disobedience. The government has the capability to listen to every conversation, to track our location, to monitor all our computers and email, and can shut down our communication systems, including the Internet at will.
Given this capability, and all the problems evident in our country today, the implementation of Martial Law in my opinion is imminent! When large numbers of people in this country continue not to find work, when they don’t have enough to eat, when their money won’t buy the necessities of life, when they can’t afford to travel because of high fuel prices, and when they continue to lose their homes, they will become desperate. This desperation will result in civil unrest. That will be the government’s reasoning for declaring Martial Law. I don’t believe this will happen all at once nor do I think it will be immediately widespread. Like most government interventions, it will probably be incremental, beginning in the inner cities, and expanding to other areas as the ruling class sees fit.
We are living in dangerous times. We are facing a dangerous enemy. That enemy is the State. It is now all-powerful and armed to the teeth. Most of those armed government agents in the police forces and the military will act on orders without question. They will attempt to disarm the public, just as they did in New Orleans during Katrina. They will round up any who don’t obey government commands, and they will kill any who forcibly resist. These things are not far-fetched, but likely in the near future.
The time to act is now, not after this government aggression begins. By then, it may be too late. The signs are everywhere, so why do so many not see them? Why is this continuous buildup of the police state tolerated? Why are so many Americans blind to this reality? Has the “public” government run “education” system been that effective, or is the majority so dependent on government that their apathy consumes them?
Time is running out, and we are at great risk of losing what is left of our freedom at the hands of our own corrupt government. We are now in a fascist state, and if this government assault on our liberty is not stopped soon, expect Martial Law in this land of confusion!
Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions.
~ Thomas Babington Macaulay, Letter to Henry Stephens Randall [October 9, 1858]
Copyright © 2011 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
April 23, 2011