John Whitehead recently wrote a piece on Counter Punch titled, “The Freedom Experiment is Falling”. His assessment is the US government is the greatest threat to our freedom. Our freedoms are being stripped away and we don’t even realize it. The American people are being coned. Whitehead argues we’re being ruled by “scoundrels, spies, thugs, thieves, gangsters, ruffians, rapists, extortionists, bounty hunters, battle-ready warriors and cold-blooded killers who communicate using a language of force and oppression. The U.S. government remains a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.” Whitehead goes on to argue that we’re allowing ourselves to be spied on, taken advantage of, robbed, jailed, locked up and ravaged on. All in the name of the greater good of our country. Whitehead argues in the end this gives rise to tyranny and to volunteer servitude; this slavery at its best. 

I found Whitehead’s language and views to be cynical and little too extreme for my taste. However, I do agree with his main point. We’re losing more and more of our freedoms. One of the things he pointed out is that as long as we’re fighting each other, we’ll remain divided. Donald Trump has done a good job of keeping us distracted. We’re living in a house of cards. Our government leaders have divided this country on every level and at every turn. For them it’s about power, money and control. It makes it impossible to come together as unified front and fight tyranny when we’re at each other’s throats. What is tyranny? Merriam Webster defines tyranny as a government in which absolute power is vested in a single ruler. We’re so engrossed in the political circus that’s going on in our country that we’re forgetting to look underneath the surface. We’re playing into an agenda in which a small group of people are trying to exercise absolute control while disregarding the freedoms, the rights and the wishes of the people. We need to step outside the circus and work together to protect our freedoms. The government uses the excuse of protecting our freedoms in order silence us into submission. We’ve become their puppets and they (the government) puppeteers. Whatever freedoms we give up and allow the government to have in order to protect ourselves from opposing powers, will later be used to oppress us. We must stop the in-fighting, be vigilant and unite. Most importantly we must get out and vote. We the people come first. The government works for us, it’s not our job to work for them. It’s time that we make them them remember that. 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/19/the-experiment-in-freedom-is-failing/