Posted on 12/11/2007 11:56:46 AM PST by 1rudeboy
Pat Buchanan is too patriotic to come right out and say it, but the message of his new book, "Day of Reckoning," is that America as we have known her is finished. Moreover, Naomi Wolf agrees with him. These two writers of different political persuasions arrive at America's demise from different directions.
Buchanan explains how hubris, ideology and greed have torn America apart. A neoconservative cabal with an alien agenda captured the Bush administration and committed American blood, energy and money to aggression against Muslim countries in the Middle East, while permitting America's domestic borders to be overrun by immigrants and exporting the jobs that had made the United States an opportunity society. War and offshoring have taken a savage economic toll, while open borders and diversity have created social and political division.
In her new book, "End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," Wolf explains America's demise in terms of the erosion of freedoms. She writes that the 10 classic steps that are used to close open societies are currently being taken in the United States. Martial law is only a declaration away.
The Bush administration responded to Sept. 11 by initiating military aggression in the Middle East and by using fear and the "war on terror" to implement police state measures at home with legislation, presidential directives and executive orders.
Overnight, the United States became a tyranny in which people could be arrested and incarcerated on the basis of unsubstantiated accusation. Both U.S. citizens and non-citizens were denied habeas corpus, due process, and access to attorneys and courts. Congress gave Bush legislation establishing military tribunals, the procedures of which permit people to be condemned to death on the basis of secret evidence, hearsay and confessions extracted by torture. Nothing of the like has ever been seen before in the United States.
The cancer might have metastasized if the Guantanamo detainees had actually been the dangerous terrorists and enemy combatants that the Bush regime declared them to be. Had the administration actually possessed evidence against the detainees, the Bush regime might have succeeded in dispensing with the Constitution. Conviction of the detainees could have led to what Wolf calls a "fascist expansion." Following the exercise of its new powers, the regime could have broadened the definition of terrorist to include the regime's critics, thus pulling citizens in general into tribunals devoid of civil liberty protections.
It could still turn out this way in the event of another 9-11 attack, whether real or orchestrated. But momentarily, the drive toward tyranny has been blunted because the vast majority of detainees turned out to be hapless individuals sold into American captivity by warlords responding to the bounty the United States paid for "terrorists." Any unprotected individual was vulnerable to being captured by Afghan and Pakistani warlords and sold as a "terrorist." The Americans needed to show results, and the Bush regime needed "terrorists" in order to feed the fear its propaganda had generated.
In Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany, the absence of evidence would not have mattered, as the judicial system produced the results demanded by the tyrants. However, the U.S. military had not been sufficiently corrupted for the Bush regime's Guantanamo agenda to succeed.
Honorable officers, such as Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, were able to discern that the U.S. government had no information on the detainees and used interrogations in order to rubber stamp the a priori determination that a detainee was a terrorist or enemy combatant. Military officers made these revelations known to real courts before the tribunal process could establish itself.
Andy Worthington's recently published book, "The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 759 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison," proves that the regime's claim that it had hundreds of dangerous terrorists at Guantanamo was just another Bush administration lie.
Currently, support for Bush, Cheney and the neoconservative agenda is low. However, Congress, the press and elections have proven to be feeble opponents of the Bush regime's drive toward war and tyranny. It remains to be seen whether the regime has sufficient credibility or audacity to initiate war with Iran or a false flag attack that would revive the fascist expansion of which Wolf warns.
The Bush administration has been a catastrophe. Its failures are unprecedented. Energy prices are at all-time highs. The United States is deeply in debt and dependent on foreign creditors. The dollar has lost 60 percent of its value against other tradable currencies, and its reserve currency status, the basis of American power, is in doubt.
The United States has lost millions of middle-class jobs, which have been replaced with low-paid domestic service jobs. Except for the very rich, Americans have experienced no gains in real income in the 21st century.
As the ladders of upward mobility are dismantled and the middle class struggles and fails, America is left with a few rich and many poor. America's reputation and credibility are damaged perhaps beyond repair. Congress and the press have enabled the executive branch's disregard of the Constitution and civil liberty. The United States is mired in two lost wars, which are pushing Lebanon and nuclear-armed Pakistan into deepening political crises.
As Buchanan concludes, "Our day of reckoning is at hand."
So does the author like or dislike Bush? I wish he wasn’t so unequivocal.
Obviously Paul Craig Roberts is receiving funds from the oil companies since he never even mentioned human caused global warming.
All three have come to the same conclusion, that America is doomed, from different perspectives. Let's hope they are misguided.
When Pat talks everyone listens especially on this site.
Of course Pat is the best analyst of America future. Pat was right about illegal immigration, deficit trade deals will cost Americans jobs, foreign entanglements will bring war to our shores, abortion and gay practices are bad for this country and RINOs and Neocons have taken over the GOP and converted it to liberal lite.
Pat shows us the ghost of America’s future if we continue to follow the path of British empire builders. Ghost of the future I fear thee most of all. God Bless Us Everyone.
Buchanan’s failboat sailed loooong ago.
I find it hard to believe that the nation is worse off than it was in 1987. :p
This is an important allegation, and needs to be either substantiated or convincingly refuted.
Buchanan (somewhat) and this author (entirely) are modern-day versions of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Being correct on cultural and societal issues (such as illegal immigration, education, etc.) should not allow their blatant (and I argue, deliberate) mis-statements regarding the WOT and the economy to get a free pass.
Yep
You need more? I can think up thousands. Maybe not what the author above was thinking... but it does address your question.
Yeah.... this Country is sinking. Badly. I highly doubt anyone connected to Pat has any of the answers on how to fix things either.
Overnight, the United States became a tyranny...
Two paragraphs later we see:
But momentarily, the drive toward tyranny has been blunted...
So... are we or aren't we a tyranny? I so confused.
When?
Name ONE, Wolfie.
Name ONE, Wolfie.
What??? Where have you been living-on an island? Our freedoms have been eroding the last 20 years piecemeal. Brady bill-3 day wait for one. In many locals you cannot even build a 12 x 12 storage shed on your property without getting local city approval/permits.
It is worse now in terms of moral and cultural issues.
Obviously you have not read anything from Pat over the last 20 years. 15 years ago his prediction on illegals and moral issues are dead on.
Buchanan explains how hubris, ideology and greed have torn America apart.
Let me be the first to correct Pat.....
Hubris, ideology, and greed BUILT AMERICA,
guilt, and socialism are what’s tearing it apart.
The list would be pretty long IMO.
The SCOTUS decision to allow property to be taken for "the greater common good" which we all know is nothing but land snatching.
Every day something is being banned, all in the name of "safety" or for "our own good"
New laws regulating everything from smoking to walking are being created on an almost daily basis.
Maybe you need to wake up and smell the tyranny my friend.
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