Wake Up America

Take Liberty : A Reciprocian Forum ^ | 11 September 2001 | Richard Rieben

[sendtoscott]

Hegemony was attacked today – by faceless, desperate people. And hegemony will be defended.

People are not their governments. But they are wrong to think that they will not bear the consequences for their governments' actions.

As I travel abroad a great deal, I am often put to explaining that the American people are one entity, and that the American Government/CIA/corporate realm is a separate entity. And they are not truly or necessarily on the same track.

Many Americans that I talk with disassociate themselves from the actions of the U.S. government. In its actions, abroad or at home, overt or covert, it does not represent them, their views, or their interests. But, as a democracy, they labor under an illusion that they can disassociate themselves, thusly, and avoid being targeted by retaliations against their government/country.

There is no magic veil that keeps Americans from being responsible for what their government does. Indeed, as a democratic, representative form of government – long inactive as a functional system – there isn't even an excuse for such irresponsibility, were they to take the form to heart and apply it.

The invasion of America today is a wake-up call for us to take our government more personally and demand greater accountability. The actions that our government takes abroad will, increasingly, come back to haunt us with their effects. We are not immune to the laws of consequence. Although we have long labored under an illusion that we are somehow exempt, that by having a mighty, huge military and a pervasive spy network, we can forever avoid being brought to account for the actions of our government, reality proves us delusional ... and it will do so with increasing frequency.

Increasingly, as our government interferes and meddles in the affairs of other nations and people, We The People, will bear the consequences for these military, corporate, and economic intrusions. And it is not going to be some minor thing, like higher prices at the gas station. It will be serious, tit-for-tat, invasion, violence and usurpation of our sovereignty as a nation. The kind of stuff that various parts of the world have put up with from us (or our predecessors, the British), for decades.

I was hoping that this invasion would spur Americans to wake up to their responsibilities. But it looks, rather, like the majority of Americans, in demanding revenge for the attacks ("hunt those suckers down and eradicate them"), are merely demanding the reinstatement of their illusions and of their continued irresponsibility. No one likes to be accountable, especially not when they have grown accustomed to being unaccountable all their lives. The "American Way of Life" that we are defending so vigorously is precisely that illusion of being irresponsible, and, through some magic potion of military might, of being unaccountable for our very irresponsibility. This is the farthest that many Americans ever get with the concept of "freedom," a freedom from accountability.

The invasion of American on 11/9/01 is not a pleasant subject. It portends not merely an affront to living in a bubble, but the beginnings of the end of this country.

There have been thoughts bandied about that the invasion may well be a plot similar to FDR's instigation of hostilities with Japan in order to provoke them into an open attack that would subsequently force a resistant American people to enter the war in Europe, as well as a war in the Pacific. Pearl Harbor is the rallying cry, and the guiding demagoguery, of a shocked peoples and their leaders. But Pearl Harbor was a set-up.

It is likely that the intelligence operations of the U.S. are not as ignorant of the events leading up to the present invasion, as we are initially being led to believe.

We would do well to consider some of the consequences of this attack ... of who stands to benefit by it.

Our economic bubble, worldwide, will, through the coming war preparations and military build-up, fail to burst, as worldwide stock markets on 10/9/01 indicated was a serious possibility.

Military budget funding buildup, which was recently rejected by the U.S. Congress, will, of course, go through immediately, and possibly via an emergency session.

Further restrictions of the rights of the individual, a gradual erosion over many years, will be stepped up dramatically. It is likely that Second Amendment provisions of the right to bear arms (or knives) will be summarily and "temporarily" suspended. Travel restrictions will be imposed. Those controversial surveillance cameras will soon be everywhere, nationwide ... and only "crazy" people will voice their opposition to them as an infringement of rights. And a labor condition approaching the former Soviet Union will be approached, if the government manages to keep control of the situation at all. Shortages will be blamed on the war-effort or as an effect of the "terrorists."

All of these consequences indicate a very controlled environment, as sheep being led to slaughter ... or into slavery.

The early indication is that the government will keep control handily. Most Americans are content to place their "faith" in the ability of their present leaders to react to the situation in the "best interests of the American people." This is a gullibility that is part of our national identity when it comes to politicians. And it is a natural consequence of our rejection for responsibility over our government ... we look to government for solutions to whatever ails us, rather than involving ourselves in such "dirty business" – and think we keep our hands clean thereby.

We will put our "safety" ahead of our freedom, not knowing (and never having been taught) that our freedom is the only source of safety that we have, as individuals and as a nation.

And we will do this because "public safety" is the name we give to protection from being responsible. Our fear is great and very deep, and also very personal. We fear having to think.

Losing our freedom, in the name of safety, will cost us what novelist Tom Robbins calls our "bounciness." For all the pluses and minuses of American freedom AND vulnerability, we have more "bounce" than any other place on the planet today. But that comes of having freedom AND being vulnerable. Not being safe. Other countries are "safe." They do not bounce. (And they aren't really very safe, either ... because, simply, restricted slave states are not safe from their own keepers.)

The invasion of America is no less tragic that any other military invasion of any other country. And no more.

Americans are not a "special" people, exempt from the laws of nature, the laws of political responsibility, or the laws of social accountability.

The leaders of the Western world, and their elected puppets (legislators, presidents and prime ministers), covet the empire of Rome as an ideal system of government. A one-world, autocratic, corporate CONTROL of the social, economic, and political affairs of the planet. A slave state. A military state. A hierarchic state. A complete hegemonic state. This is the goal, often stated openly (at least in regard to their unblushing admiration for Roman Empire), thinking that "this time" they will get it right.

But the empire of hegemony, whenever and wherever it is erected or attempted, will always fall. With our nuclear weaponry, our fall will likely be devastating, but fall we must. For empire is contrary to all laws of nature and God. It is a contradiction of our existence on this planet that cannot be sustained. Men strive for this goal for the same reason that people strive for illusions rather than accepting their inherent responsibility: because we think we can get away with it.

We can't.

The lesson will be harsh, as history proves repeatedly. But reality is a harsh teacher. Alas, the lesson is rarely easy to communicate or retain. Cultures conspire to deprive individuals of their native responsibilities in order to bind them more easily to the group and to the plans of the group. And, once bound, we are unlikely to comprehend the lessons that history has for groups, we are unable to see them in regard to our own group (clan, culture, country, nation, government), and we are susceptible to falling, once again, into the same self-destructive paths of yore.

As Americans, we will even fail to see that the original American plan was diametrically opposed to our present course. And if we do see it, we are helpless to find our way back to a clean path.

The invasion of America is a tragedy. Truly, a day of infamy. But as much as it is a horrific tragedy, it is also a historical tragedy. A typical repetition of the nastiness of consequences. There is still hope that it will act as a wake-up call to our native self-responsibilities for self-government.

But boundless anger, resentment, and fury impels us to immediate acts of revenge rather than thought. There is an urgent quest to restore the "status quo," the delusion of unaccountability, and the illusion of invincibility from the lessons of history. If this is our main agenda, we will fail.

I do not say that we, or any attacked people, should curb our fury. I think we need to stoke it to a white heat and, with the painstaking care of controlling a flow of molten metal, direct that fury toward the objective of resurrecting a government for the people, by the people and of the people. (Ref: U.S. Constitution, U.S. Bill of Rights, U.S. Declaration of Independence ... for a start.) We need to know what's going on, and stop subjecting ourselves to consequences that our government courts by its covert actions. We need to take over the government. And run it. As was intended from the beginning.

This is a scary prospect – both to our rulers and to ourselves. However, if the prospect of either a martial-law police-state OR another invasion of the same proportions as today does not scare you more than prospect of taking up the responsibility for your own government, then I guess you're not ready for it. And history will rise up before us, mighty in its force, unequivocal in its laws, and strike us DOWN.

[eskimo]

People are not their governments. But they are wrong to think that they will not bear the consequences for their governments' actions.

Those words should be carved into a big two-by-four which should be used to smack about half the people in this country right in the head.