Today in America we are accosted by agents of the Government on a daily basis. There isn’t an aspect of your life that isn’t governed or policed. Now more than ever peaceful activities of individuals are being regulated by bureaucrats at all levels of Government.
People seem to forget that at one time there were almost no police in America and most people forget that the FBI didn’t even exist until the prohibition era. Government creates its own market. If alcohol was never outlawed the gangsters would have never risen to power, the FBI would not have come into being and the IRS which was used to bring in a bunch of the racketeers, would not have the power it has today.
Government produces one product and that is force. It uses this force to limit the activities of everyone who lives within its sphere of power. It incidentally resembles the Mafia in every respect. Maybe that’s why it targets it so much.
With the prohibition of Gambling, PRostitution and Drugs the government creates criminals and thus demands larger and larger police forces to combat these “evil doers”. That is how the police state grew in the past. The mafia and tax cheats were the biggest offenders. But in the last two decades the explosion of the police state can be attributed to two things 1. Drug Prohibition and 2. Terrorism.
Drug Prohibition could go away tomorrow and that would save the lives of tens of thousands of people across central and south america and around the world, as well as empty more than fifty percent of the prisoners serving jail time in the U.S. This Policing of the use of drugs has led not only to the killings of innocent individuals but was the first step in the militarization of the Police. SWAT teams have been developed to deal with drug dealers who are merely fulfilling a demand by customers. Think about that. I don’t even like the term drug dealer. Think about how the State manipulates the language. What is a pharmacist? A drug dealer, except with a permission slip from the government to dispense only “certified” government approved drugs to individuals. So a street drug dealer should really be called a street pharmacist or black market pharmacist or even a freedom pharmacist.
But nothing has led to the expansion of the Police State in America more than the overblown threat of terrorism. Did you know 90% of the foiled attempted terrorists plots are those that have been arranged by the FBI? That is crazy. They entrap these impressionable kids and give them fake bombs and even plan out the fake attacks, befriend these people and then arrest them. I don’t think the Government should be allowed to lie. All this undercover operations and drug entrapment is wrong.
Terrorism is a byproduct of U.S. Government action. If we had not had huge military bases in Saudi Arabia 9/11 may have never happened. The planners of the attacks site specifically the presences of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia as the main reason for the attack. Why do you think the Pentagon and World Trade Towers were hit? They didn’t go after schools or shopping malls or the Superbowl.
Now the police are monitoring every phone call, all social media, all texts and any other form of communication. What are they searching for? They are searching for anyone who threatens their power. I heard one NSA guy say that the Government is not interested in listening to your phone calls about your last date or what you had for dinner. But they can do it!!! That’s the point. The shouldnt be listening to anyone’s phone conversations. If we weren’t going around the world killing untold number of brothers, husbands, and fathers, not to mention the thousands of women and children the Federal Government wouldn’t have to be so paranoid.
You may think that this applies only to the Federal Level and not to the State and local levels. . In fact the more the Federal Police State grows and the more the military and intelligence complex grows the more the local and State police grow as well. The funding for a lot of what the local and State police get is from the Federal Level. They use this to direct the activities of the different departments, make them a subsidiary to the Homeland Security, Department of Defense, the DEA, and ATF.
Now more than ever police departments have armored cars, high-tech surveillance gear, and military style weapons. Have you seen a SWAT team officer lately? He looks like he belongs in Afghanistan and not on the streets of Atlanta. But this goes along with how the politician’s view America today. Senator McCain spoke out in defense of the ability of the Federal Government to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens caught on U.S. soil who are deemed a “terrorist” without trial because America is now a battlefield!!! How scary is that?
The last time America was a battlefield it was during the Civil War or more accurately the War of Succession by the Southern States and how did Abraham Lincoln handle this? By suspending habeas corpus, instituting Martial Law and having Military Tribunals for “Terrorists” and “enemy combatants”. Is this the future we have in store for us?
The Federal Police are out of hand, privacy no longer exists, they can write their own search warrants, and deem anyone they want a terrorist and have the authority to make that person disappear. And they are increasingly colluding with the Local and State law enforcement. Do yourself a favor and Google fusion centers and see exactly what I mean.
In the news on a regular basis the “cooperation” of the Federalis and local cops is being documented. Why is L.A. deploying a military style command center to watch over the city? Why is FEMA and Department of Health and Human services buying up huge warehouses whose locations are secret? Why has the military conducted joint operations in L.A. with the local police? I don’t know I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny. When the Government fears the people there is freedom.” Thomas Jefferson
The local police are no better. Why do you think there are so many cameras along the highways now? In some places it’s every third of a mile? What about all the guard rails going up? What about all the metered on-ramps? And also the countdown signs at cross walks. These people think we are either morons and terrorists. And what about the speed traps, the entrapment for prostitution and buying drugs?
If there were no prohibition on Gambling, Drugs and prostitution the police would take a drastic cut. They are in the business of self-preservation just like the generals and defense contractors are. War is the health of the State. The War against Drugs, Prostitution and Gambling is the health of local law enforcement agencies.
I want to be free and left alone. I want to be able to put into my body what I choose to. I want to be able to pay a woman for sex if I choose to. I want to have the choice to gamble with whomever I choose to. I’m not saying I’d do any of these things but it would be my choice. The consequences of my actions will still rest squarely on my shoulders so if I get hooked on heroin and lose my job that’s my fault. If I contract venereal disease from a Lady of the Night that’s my fault (but that is highly unlikely if we look at legal prostitution in Nevada), and if I lose all my money gambling I will be broke. I don’t need a police officer to tell me that.
“An Anarchist is anyone who doesn’t need a police officer to tell him what to do.”
I know there are bad people in this world. But has there ever been a document written or a revolution fought against an individual? Stated differently only Government has throughout the course of history slaughtered millions, enslaved millions, stolen trillions and laid waste to much of the world at one time or another. Individuals acting on their own without the structure and bureaucracy of the Nation State can never threaten the life, liberty and property like Government does. And why was the second amendment added to the Constitution? Its primary purpose was that individuals would always be able to overthrow a tyrannical government if it; instead of Defending the Natural Rights of its CItizens violated them.
That was the founder’s thinking. My thinking is that no government is necessary. Individuals acting according to their self-interest and trading voluntarily with others can create a peaceful society in which no collective force of government is necessary. But until that happens I hope that the Police State will be reigned in.
If it’s not the senseless deaths of thousands will continue here and around the world. Two quick stories that illustrate how out of control the police are here and abroad.
A fifty year old man holding his grandson was shot and killed by SWAT officer recently. The man’s crime? He had kicked a neighbors trash can earlier in the day. That sounds like a raving mad man who needs to be put down right? Anyway it turns out he fits the profile of a “Sovereign Citizen” Which the FBI recently alerted Local Law Enforcement as a movement dangerous to police. Needless to say that this must be a huge crisis for the FBI to alert the whole country to right? Wrong. There were less than thirty incidents with so-called Sovereign Citizens in the last three years. One of them did end in the shooting of a Local Cop. But why isn’t there an alert to all individuals to warn us of the dangerous and deadly nature of SWAT OFFICERS? By the way the granddad was not armed and was putting the child down when he was shot in the head.
That’s on the local level. Now let’s take this idea of the Police State that’s out of control onto the International Stage. I coud cite the death toll on the Mexican border but that’s been reported and not many people care. The response to that has been typical, more funds for more police and more military style hardware for local law enforcement. No the story I want to tell you is happening right now in Afghanistan and it’s because of the “War on Drugs”.
If you think that the War on Drugs should not be ended on the grounds of individual liberty, or the out of control expense or the crime created by the prohibition it creates, then this story might help sway you.
Poppy farmers in Afghanistan grow somewhere between 75-90% of the poppy in the world. Now most people don’t realize that most of these farms are small plots of land tended by individual farmers and their families. And these small farmers borrow the money from the drug dealers to finance the buying of the land and the growing of the poppy. Then when harvest time comes, the drug dealers come along and collect what’s due them out of the harvest and give the farmer his remuneration for his work. Unfortunately the War on Drugs in the U.S. and the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan has led to the destruction of many of these small farmers’ fields.
I’m sure the drug dealers who leant the money to these farmers will understand its the U.S. government’s fault because their military provides security for the Afghan Police to destroy their crops right? Wrong. The Drug Dealers take the children of the farmers to settle the debt. I’ll repeat that. They take the Children, little kids boys and girls as payment for the debts if the poppy fields have been destroyed. This is an epidemic in Afghanistan. Families have to choose which child they are to give up. The kids are put to work for the drug dealers and sexually abused. When I saw the story on PBS I had tears in my eyes. One little girl whose 12 watched the drug dealers take her sister and they told her family they would be back for her. Now her family is having to go from town to town to stay ahead of them. With tears in her eyes she said ” if they come for me, I will kill myself. What other choice do I have?”
This little girl feels like she doesn’t have a choice but Americans do. We can vote for a President who will end the Federal War on Drugs, and bring the troops home immediatley. The only two candidates who pledge to do this are Ron Paul and Gary Johnson.
When Politicians make laws that destroy individual liberty and the police enforce these laws ,lives of peaceful people are destroyed. That is why it’s so important to remember Liberty is indivisible. And whether liberty is destroyed by the prohibition of drugs in America or the occupation of foreign lands, these actions directly destroy individual lives far more than any terrorist or drug use could ever do.
By the way no one has been fired from the Government or gone to jail because of the failure of their duties to protect the life and property of the American people.
Do you believe there is a terrorist around every corner? Do you believe you can’t trust your neighbor? Do you believe as a lot of politicians believe that citizens should be disarmed?” If so keep voting the same way. Keep trusting what the Government tells you. Believe that the police are here to serve and protect and that the War on Drugs, the War on Terror and the War on Individual Liberty are good and help keep us all safe.
Do you feel safer with the trillion-dollar military budget? Do you feel safer that poppy farmers in Afghanistan have to give up their children to settle debts because of the U.S. policy of destroying poppy fields? Do you feel safer that SWAT teams look like Special Operations Operators, have Armored cars and are increasingly assisted by the Feds with Drone Surveillance? Do you feel safer knowing that there will be a projected 30,00 drones in the skies of America in the next 3 years? Do you feel safer that the jails are full of people whose only crime is the consumption of a substance? Do you feel safer that cops target you for speeding but don’t go after those who steal your check book and pass bad checks all over town? Do you feel safer that the line between the military and local police has been erased? Do you feel safer that America is now considered a battlefield?
And if America is a battlefield then its just a matter of time before the collateral damage begins piling up. I believe it’s already started. This is a long post becasue the Police State violates your natural rights of privacy, life, liberty and property on a daily basis. You desrved to be free from any intrustion into your life. You should have Zero dealings with anyone from the Government on a daily basis unless you violate the Natural Rights of others. Unforntunatley we do not yet live in such a world. All we need is 33% of the population to want to be free. That is 100 million Americas who understand the concept of Natural Rights and want to live under a system in Which the govenrment only exists to combat force and fraud.
This is the minarchist view and its a stepping stone toward a stateless society. I believe that there are enough of us right now to make this happen. Our job is to help one person to see the light and vote for Ron Paul or Gary Johnson. I can see a Free America Again and it can happen faster than you think. 100 million is very doable. The rest of the population will come along just as they did during the American Revolution. Which today I advocate for a purely peaceful second Revolution. The Revolution must take place within the hearts and minds of our friends and families first. I feel like its closer than we think.
Brad Miller
AdvocateofLiberty and Peace
