Politics Without Principles

“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles." - Mahatma Gandhi

And now for something a little different, almost.

In 1947 the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago started the Doomsday Clock to show the worlds relative placement towards a global disaster. When the clock was first started, it was set at 7 minutes to midnight (11:53pm). The closest the clock has ever come to midnight was in 1953 when it was set at 11:58pm after the United States and the then Soviet Union tested thermonuclear devices within 9 months of each other. Since then, the clock has been all over the board in time from 11:43pm in 1991 to 11:55pm as of 2012. The problem is that this current setting completely fails to address current geo-political events which effect the world on a global scale. The Doomsday Clock is strictly nuclear related. Let's take the following events into account:

• February 1, 2002: Passage of the USA PATRIOT Act (11:50pm)
• Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 +5
• February 28, 2011: Passage of HR 347, Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 +1
• May 26, 2011: President Barack Obama signs a four year extension on key provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act +1
• Seeming defeat of SOPA in the United States -3
• Seeming defeat of ACTA in the United States -3
• December 31, 2011: National Defense Authorization Act 2012 +3
• July 6, 2012: President Obama gives himself complete control over all forms of communication in America. +1
• Russian Duma adopts 'web blacklist' making the internet less free. +1
• Passage of ACTA by Mexico. +3

Next to the events is a corresponding + or - number indicating the importance of severity of the matter which directly relates to our new geo-political Doomsday Clock. I decided to start the clock at the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act because I believe that this, for the West, is the first modern large scale suppressive act committed by a government against a country. This Act could've been repealed but wasn't. This is the beginning for the US. Also notice that many failed laws such as ACTA which fail in the US are later purposed in other countries. This list is not strictly for issues regarding the United States. Many examples are listed to reflect the severity not just on American citizens, but also foreign nationals who could find themselves in the United States or detained by United States officials. I wanted to give a broad spectrum of examples in which acts by a government are directly repressing peoples rights. am sure I undoubtedly forgot many repressive laws which have been passed in other countries. Feel free to leave missed laws in the comments section. My point is that the message is still the same though.

Now, know what time it is? 11:59pm. We are at the point where the doors to an open and free globe are closing fast. Our democracy in the United States as well as global stability is tipping because much of our human rights secured by laws and constitutions around the world have eroded away. We have reached a point where laws either need to be repealed or a new government needs to be founded. There is just no other solution at this point. Thoughts?

The Body Politic

Within this country there is a rash of blasé obliviousness. Most Americans are either conscious of a something going on in Syria or they have no idea what is going on. Rare are those who are well informed and have been following the counterculture media. Personally I believe most American media sources are to be taken with a a grain of salt. Up until very recently I had followed all news sources: RT, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, AJE, CBC, BBC, and more for the main purpose of being able to see the flow of spin so to speak. It was interesting to see how issues that would first be reported by European/Arab media would start out in one context and shift entirely to another by the time it reached American media syndicates. American media would over emphasize specific things on a story that were so utterly unimportant and gloss over important issues. I began to notice patterns. Let me preface what I am about to say by stating that I am one who believes that there is something going on around the world which is worth reporting on at all times. Something newsworthy is always happening. The patterns I began to notice were that at heightened times of criticality pertaining to our international relations, there was strictly domestic coverage on mundane issues. I even commented on it in a Facebook post stating "Is it just me or is Fox news predominately covering myopic domestic issues or extremely superfluous news stories? Flesh eating bacteria; guy gets mauled by chimps; 17 year old girl murdered; Tom and Kate; Obamacare ad nauseum; Dad kicks son in the face at Disneyworld; etc. I truly don't give a care about any of that. The coverage almost seems too dumbed down not be obvious. I want to know the current global situation that is going on and how we play a part given that we could potentially enter into yet another war."

Need further proof?
Late Feb - March: As a result of ongoing protests, Yemeni President Abdullah Saleh is succeeded by VP Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi. Series of explosions in the Congo with over 250 dead. President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, is ousted in a coup after an attack on government offices. During this time America is blinded by the Trayvon Martin shooting, the Academy Awards, the Rutgers student Dharun Ravi's sentence, and football nonsense. No real mention of anything going on in the world view reaches American viewers. Since then there has been consistent media coverage blitz on largely domestic issues such as the presidential race, Obamacare,  the Arizona immagration law, Fast & Furious, and the secret service hiring prostitutes and partying. All real media of value is slowly closing to the American people.

I relate it to many of the points that Naomi Wolf addresses in her book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. She discusses, with direct historical references, examples of how groups throughout history have systematically closed a society. She definitively lays out the blueprints and applies them to the current situation and policies going on in America. 

The 10 steps she lists are: 

1. Invoke an External and Internal Threat

      Historically, Hitler used the fear of the Jews to drum up national support for his actions. Currently, we are trained everyday to be afraid of the terrorist outside the country and those domestically.

2. Establish Secret Prisons

     Historically, the Gulag and the concentration camps like Auschwitz. Currently, we have a system of secret prisons just like Guitmo which span the globe where we practice "enhanced interrogation techniques".

3. Develop a Paramilitary Force

     A paramilitary force is a group organized in a military fashion which operates outside of the formal military. Historically, Hitler had is brownshirts. Mussolini also had a similar goon squad. Currently, the US has Blackwater/Xe/Academi and whose services can be bought by the highest bidder. During Katrina in 2005, armed Blackwater employees were patrolling the streets.

Large corporations are now able to buy a military force to control at their whim.

4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens

     I don't think I need to illustrate this any further with Obama's newly signed bill which gave him complete control over all US communications. 

5. Infiltrate Citizens' Groups
     Peace Fresno and so many others

6. Arbitrarily Detain and Release Citizens

7. Target Key Individuals

     Watch, understand, and share.

8. Restrict the Press

     The point that I have been making with this statement.

9. Cast Criticism as "Espionage" and Dissent as "Treason"

10. Subvert the Rule of Law

     Currently, the rights protected by the Geneva conventions are being utterly disregarded by the United States. Habeas corpus is currently suspended- a right which found its origin in the Magna Carta. This is extremely dangerous and alarming.    

There is no doubt America is quickly closing as a society at an alarming rate. Many see it coming whether you know of Naomi Wolf's 10 steps or not. Many in America are disgruntled because of the disjunction between the political engine in the country and the needs of the people. Politicians argue on the most unimportant points, wasting money arguing, while not working feverishly to relieve the extreme hardships most are in. It's as if the news covers everything we don't care about and the politicians say and do everything we don't want them to. It's very easy to please Americans too. We want jobs, enough money to buy food, and to buy our toys like boats or jet skis- in a perfect world. We, as a whole, are stupidly tolerant to a fault with the current system of government and politics within this country. There is a general souring though now with the lack of jobs, lack of real healthcare, lack of care for the people, and lack of hope. Many are taking to the streets in support of Occupy. I personally believe that given the current situation, no matter who wins in November the result will still be the same: a more deeply rooted depression than ever before. To undo so much damage which has been done to our freedoms by the Patriot act, suppression of rights afforded by the Geneva convention, and habeas corpus, we would have to repeal an inordinate succession of laws which have been passed day by day to only strengthen the suppression of the public. The answer to America's problems, and change itself, can't be found within the election process or the government any longer.