How Liberty Dies

In the 21st century, the people must be made scared enough to sacrifice their liberties. So far, Team Totalitarian is winning.

With much fanfare (see members of Congress shamefully waving the Ukrainian flag on the floor of the House of Representatives) the march away from liberal democracy toward a Soviet-style totalitarianism increased in speed over the weekend. As Senator Amidala sadly relates in Revenge of the Sith, “so this is how Liberty dies: with thunderous applause.”

Senators voted Saturday to further invalidate the Fourth Amendment, as the FISA 702 program of warrantless spying on Americans was expanded and reauthorized. In order to justify NSA, CIA, FBI and DHS abilities to conduct searches on citizens without probable cause nor a warrant, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) declared multiple times on Fox News Sunday that, “WE ARE AT WAR!” He failed to mention with whom we are at war and when Congress declared such a thing, which is Congress’ Constitutional duty. The Imperial Senator continued, making an emotional plea that he was threatened by some unnamed actor and that FISA 702 must be employed to protect his carnival-barking charlatanage, as if he were some Imperial Caesar whose life was more important than the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the American people. It was something to see.

While some patriots on both sides of the aisle attempted to thwart these actions, none of their efforts mattered. The people’s resistance to overwhelming state power in Washington was defeated once again. Worse still, at the last minute new language was inserted to radically expand FISA - making every cable and internet service provider a soldier in the war against the American people.

Even Democratic Senators decried the expanded FISA 702 legislation. From NBC:

It’s important that people understand how sweeping this bill is,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a member of the Intelligence Committee and outspoken proponent of privacy protections. “Something was inserted at the last minute, which would basically compel somebody like a cable guy to spy for the government. They would force the person to do it and there would be no appeal.”

…and…

In a rare break with Schumer and Biden, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the president pro tempore, opposed the bill, saying: “I have strong concerns that this expansion of FISA Section 702 authorities would allow for increased abuse and misuse of the law — infringing on the rights of Americans here at home.”

It is shameful how little evidence the Deep State is required to justify the endless expansion of their tyrannical power, and how little Americans notice. Just twenty years ago, Colin Powell was required to go the UN and make the case for the second invasion of Iraq. We now know most of the intelligence he used in that pleading was false (and likely falsified by an eager warmongering element in the White House, the CIA and the Defense Department) so perhaps that’s why there’s no longer even a phony attempt - they’ll just lie to us anyway. In today’s TikTok world, it’s become easy to fake justifications to a mindlessly unaware populace. That lines up with the illegal seizure of TikTok from its owners (which was also passed this weekend) - if somebody is going to spread propaganda on TikTok, it should certainly be the good ol’ American CIA and not the CCP.

But these injustices can not stand in a free society. Rather than curtail the current FISA 702 program (which was the aim of Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats which both still love liberty and justice) Congress passed precisely the opposite - an advancing of Big Brother-style surveillance.

In the House, two dubious proxy wars in Ukraine and Israel - attributable to the disastrous foreign policy of the United States - were reinvigorated as the House gave the President all of his borrowed $95B to enrich DC Military Defense Contractors (and their government cronies) to prolong these winless wars. Despite six months of negotiation amid promises that Congress and the Administration would take action on the Southern Border first, Speaker Johnson and the House delivered none of that, in one of the most stunning flip-flops in recent memory. In order to cover his obvious derelictions, CNN made sure to call the Speaker Churchill. The state-run network can be counted on to reward obedience.

We were presented with such blatant propaganda to support these terrible acts it defies belief. Representative Gerald Connolly (D-Virginia) took to the podium in the House to declare that the reason this Administration continues to ignore the crisis at the Southern Border is that, “the Ukraine-Russia border IS OUR BORDER.”

What on earth is he talking about? Our leaders will say or do anything to delude us into swallowing their destructive policies that deliver more war, more deaths and more instability across the globe.

To justify the largest foreign aid package in the history of the United States, was there any mention of what Ukraine will accomplish with their new-found wealth? Will they now defeat Russia? Will they force Putin’s troops back out of the Donbas and Crimea? On what time table? We heard no answers to these fundamental questions.

Further, since we’ve furnished Ukraine with $174B in two years and the European Union just authorized another $50B of their own aid in February, can we be sure we are done financing this border dispute?

Since 1999, it has been the policy of the United States to expand NATO eastward toward the Russian border, despite having made assurances otherwise. Just look at the original NATO countries and its recent expansion:

NATO as of 2022 (before Russia’s second invasion)

Here is how President Putin of the Russian Federation reacted to these security risks at his famous Munich speech in 2007:

"I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended?"

Ukraine has had a tremendous amount of political upheaval in the 21st century, and the American CIA has been active there for decades. The history of the CIA’s coups and clandestine warmongering through propaganda and false flag operations is well established.

Their policies are reckless, not in the American people’s interests and will serve to cause more violence, more uncertainty and most importantly a lot more fear.

Fear is the necessary condition for the state to expand its own power in the 21st century. Unfortunately, the American people have demonstrated to date that they will foolishly trade their liberty for security. The Deep State’s propaganda therefore functions to foment violence, strife and political upheavals to usher in the age of Big Brother.

Will President Biden be the first Totalitarian President of the United States?

If so, future generations will never know it, as the history of freedom in this country will be erased.