I keep promising some sort of year in review, a story of the past 365 days. It is, in part, finished.
As I wrote the thing, it quickly adopted a dual nature: clearly, it wanted to be sardonic, humorous, funny. It searched for the small messages, the little life lessons you learn through studious observation of the human condition. That part of the story is still on the way.
The second half was a different beast entirely; it was frustrated, angry, hell-bent on vengeance. Probably by virtue of those attributes, it got finished first. I therefore give you,
Why I Hate America So Much:
This Year, the Terrorists Won
At some point, someone decided that it was bad to question the U.S. government in wartime. Then someone declared war on terrorism, and it became bad to question the government, or its use of power, at all. That’s how we got to equating dissent with hating the government, and ultimately where we got that hideous little shit of a straw man of a question. But as the New Year begins, it seems right to at least take a stab at answering it.
It would have been easy to write this essay about the The War In Iraq, which is, after all, Big News. It would have been easy to write about the needless loss of life, the lack of evidence, the war profiteering by companies with strong ties to the executive branch, the fraudulent evidence, and numerous other issues that, if you’re reading this website, you’re likely to be outraged about. But in a moment of blazing, frank honesty, I can admit to myself that I really don’t care.
Deep down, I think a lot of people feel this way; the war is a long way away, it doesn’t affect them directly, and the corresponding tremendous waste of resources is tough to see in the short term. So although I don’t particularly like the war, it’s safe to say that the War in Iraq is not the reason that I Hate America So Much. As my public policy professor and his Harvard model of political influence would say, my Saliency with regard to the war in Iraq is low.
I Hate America So Much, dear reader, for the same reasons my esteemed elders often say they do:
This country is heading straight for hell.
I’m not talking about rampant indecency (actually, let’s have some more of that), or violence by the youth, or a new outbreak of disease that threatens to have the general populace wearing gas masks and cowering fearfully like kittens in their suburban homes. I don’t care about Ah-nold being governor, or about congressmen running down little old ladies. I play videogames, so it can’t be those. I don’t care if homosexuals are allowed to enter into all the same empty, morally bankrupt institutions and their corresponding pre-nuptial agreements that heterosexuals are free to enter. What I do care about are our bedrock freedoms, and those are rapidly fading away.
In the United States of America, we are increasing ruled by the need for security. Citizens are encouraged to spy upon each other, and our law enforcement agencies increasingly intrude into our lives for meaningless, tiny things. Do you own an almanac? You might be a terrorist.
Not only does the United States government feel it necessary to be able to peer into your financial transactions, the websites you visit, and the books you check out of the library, they need to be able to do it without the approval of a judge. Worse, when the government grants itself these powers, the need is felt to do it by sticking them in the back pages of unrelated legislation. Massive expansions to already controversial legislation are passed as quietly as possible, and give the government powers unheard of ever before. The Senate passed that odious piece of law by voice vote, to avoid personal accountability.
Bush recently signed the PATRIOT Act II into law. If PATRIOT II had been in effect during the Watergate scandal, it would’ve been more difficult to prosecute because the Act protects those that engage in acts of illegal surveillance if they are under orders from the executive branch. Nixon famously said that "if the President does it, it can’t be illegal." Someone apparently decided it would be a good idea to make this ridiculous illegal fiction into a frightening legal reality.
United States citizens can now be held for indefinite periods without trials and without charges being filed against them, and without access to counsel. Not enemy soldiers, not terrorists, citizens of the United States of America. One wonders how much this power will be used, however, because under PATRIOT II your citizenship can simply be revoked by the government.
These anti-terrorism laws, by the way, are being used. The Department of Justice declined to describe the involvement of Michael Galardi, Las Vegas nightclub owner charged with bribery of local officials, in international terrorism.
And that’s not the whole of it. Major policy is made in the early hours of the morning, when all the news deadlines are passed and no one is there to listen to debate. Our government is transparent, but only if you happen to be able to see in the dark.
Daily, we hear that greater precautions, and secrecy, are necessary. After all, they protect us against fish terrorists. We as a nation are ruled by fear and secrecy, and we’ve compounded it by handing the fucking keys to the kingdom to the assholes. A government official with a grudge isn’t supposed to be able to ruin my life, but that’s exactly what we’ve given them the power to do.
My use of the word we’ve in that sentence is a deliberate expression of outrage. The government didn’t make these changes because there was a military coup, or because our country was invaded. We’re not under martial law. They were able to make these changes, these revocations of our freedoms, because they though they could get away with it. Because we allowed it. Because the American public didn’t give two shits when our lawmakers took away our rights. 2003, truly, was the year of the S-Factor.
I can’t talk about these things without feeling like I’m some sort of twisted modern-day version of Yossarian. Pinch me, take away the crazy pills, do something, before I resort to buying a gun and walking around backwards with it drawn. The Emperor is naked, and everyone sees him, but nobody cares.
The year 2003 is over, and all we can do is try to make 2004 better. Which brings us to a point, and a question. The point just this: the government is allowed to track you, monitor you, and detain you without trial if it sees fit. The question is, are you going to stand the fuck up and defend your rights, or are you not?
And how are you going to do it?
Posted by slade at January 16, 2004 02:19 AM