Freedoms we've lost while our military is 'fighting for our freedoms'
The American people may be most propagandized people in the history of world.Governments since the Roman Empire have created enemies to instill fear in the population so that the people are manipulated into giving more police power over to the government. Politicians always go along with this Machiavellian deception.
Much liberty and freedom has been sacrificed in the interest of "keeping us safe" in the 18 years since 9/11. If any period in the U.S. ever exceeded the past 18 years in terms of liberty lost while our military is "fighting to protect our freedoms," it would only be the period just prior to, during and immediately after the war of Northern Aggression.
Whenever I hear that our military is fighting wars in the Middle East "to protect our freedoms," I have to shake my head. If the military has been fighting "to protect our freedoms," then why are our "freedoms" being eroded away like a beach in a hurricane? Perhaps it is not Moslem terrorists who are a danger to our "freedoms," but our own politicians and unelected bureaucrats.
The U.S. establishment has created a confusion of cause and effect by and through a flag-waving mania in America. "Patriotism" throughout history has covered a multitude of mischief. We are seeing it now!
Phony patriotism is strong leverage against a population ignorant of the ways of treason by its own government. I also have no doubt that U.S. history is full of wars "for democracy" killing millions under the propaganda of patriotism with the majority support of the people and the full support of all but a small cadre of "elected representatives" — who are paid by the federal government, incidentally. In addition to the millions of foreign dead, these wars have left hundreds of thousands of American military members dead or maimed physically and/or emotionally.
The whole world knows about the U.S. military industrial complex war machine and its pursuit of profits. President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about it 58 years ago. But Americans tend to turn a blind eye.
When George Washington said "government is force," he meant that government is force against its own people.
Since by definition government is force, then it follows that government will use any ruse imaginable to increase its power. Increased use of government force or power could backfire unless skillfully handled and justified in the public mind. Therefore, governments rarely take action unless accompanied by skillful propaganda.
In September, in response to what she considered President Trump's lack of response to Iran's alleged downing of a U.S. drone and his announcement in August that he was considering a peace agreement that could result in American troops leaving Afghanistan, Rep. Liz Cheney showed the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Ms. Cheney, from Wyoming, is the daughter of vice president under Bush Jr., Dick Cheney, a Council on Foreign Relations war hawk and neocon profiteer.
President Trump's "failure to respond to this kind of direct provocation that we've seen now from the Iranians ... could in fact be a very serious mistake," Ms. Cheney told a national radio audience in June. "I think it's very important for all of our decision makers to recognize that weakness is provocative ... and that failing to respond is potentially far more dangerous here in the message that the Iranians will take from that."
In September Ms. Cheney complained that the adoption of the peace agreement Trump is pursuing would be "conceding defeat to al Qaeda."
Last week, The Washington Examiner ran an op-ed by two Wyoming legislators telling Ms. Cheney to stop carping at Trump and advocating for war.
Senator Rand Paul, who constantly calls for bringing endless wars to a conclusion, tweeted:
I agree! Why do some neocons continue to advocate for endless wars? I stand with @realdonaldtrump on ending wars. Let's focus on America First, not Afghanistan!He linked his tweet to the op-ed.
Ms. Cheney replied by tweeting:
I stand with @realDonaldTrump and our men and women in uniform who will never surrender to terrorists, unlike @RandPaul, who seems to have forgotten that today is 9/11.Paul responded:
Hi @Liz_Cheney, President @realDonaldTrump hears all your NeverTrump warmongering. We all see your pro-Bolton blather. I'm just grateful for a president who, unlike you, supports stopping these endless wars.So who is standing with terrorists here? It's certainly not Paul. The U.S. is exporting terrorism all over the world. Only America flies drones continuously over sovereign countries -- drones that are capable of raining down death and destruction on a moment's notice and without warning to those country's inhabitants.
Iran is said to have used stolen American technology for its drones — or Yemen's drones, depending on who is talking -- that blew up a Saudi Arabian refinery. So, when the hawks clamor for war against Iran, they are clamoring for war against our own technology, used in the same way we use it.
They want us to go to war with... ourselves.
American drone strikes have hit in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Philippines, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria that we know about in the last 18 years. It's likely they have hit many other places as well. America continues to destabilize Middle Eastern regimes and bomb their people, sowing discord, factionalism and our own brand of terror under the guise of keeping us safe.
The U.S. has been making war in the Middle East continuously for almost 30 years. In addition to the lives lost and maimed, it's cost trillions of dollars and led to a host of liberty-stealing laws.
A whole generation of Americans has been raised to adulthood and beyond who have not seen peace in their lifetimes. And despite these constant wars, we are no closer to peace now than we were when George H.W. Bush made open war on Saddam Hussein. In fact, peace is, if anything, farther away. No longer do we have military people (and/or military contractors) fighting and dying just in Afghanistan (which has gone on for 18 years) and Iraq (28 years — counting the first Gulf War, which never ended), they are — or have recently been — in Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Algeria. And there's saber rattling about war with Iran, North Korea and Russia.
In 2017, then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelley said the terror threat is so bad that some people "would never leave the house" if they knew the truth. So how has the 18-year "War on Terror" helped?
Meanwhile, thanks to the war on terror, all our communications are intercepted by the American spying apparatus, we are humiliated and groped and fondled by agents of government if we choose to travel, our bank accounts are monitored and banking activities reported to government, we can be stopped and required to submit to warrantless blood draws if we're suspected of driving impaired, and politicians — including Trump — are openly advocating for laws to "legalize" stealing our weapons from us based on unverified reports of mental illness or threats — or just because some politicians are frightened of them.
The Bill of Rights is but a memory, sacrificed for "national security" and "to keep us safe." The American people have barely protested. As I wrote last week, we have entered a post-Constitutional America.
Thanks to the Patriot Act, exercising the 1st Amendment right of civil disobedience or even contrarian speech can get people labeled as terrorists.
One very important psychological mechanism of deception is to promote fear of the loss of something that has actually already been lost.
For example, the government authorities tell us of the threat terrorism poses to democracy when America is already a fascist country. It is not unpatriotic to say this because it is a fact. Democracy is only the mask.
Wars are not for patriotism and "democracy," as we are propagandized. Wars are to kill, i.e., mass ritual murder. And secondly, big business reaps massive profits for the killing and sacrifice of young men and now women on all sides of combat.
The Federal Reserve paper money debt system was needed by the invisible elite to create wars and buy politicians. The elite also "buy" the propaganda to drive the public mind in any direction desired.
There would be no wars without government/banker credit. Nobody would pay for wars with gold and silver, not even the government. There is always inflation when there is a war; and when there is a war, there is always inflation.
Money printing and wars go hand in hand. They steal your wealth and freedom and, more importantly, your sons and daughters.
Yours for the truth,
Bob Livingston
Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter™
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