Like clockwork, we've ticked back to the annual government
shutdown scare that invariably dominates news headlines and sends
stocks seesawing for a few scant weeks until, at the very last
moment, the nation is miraculously pulled from the brink of
disaster. It's always an entertaining show, with both Republicans
and Democrats doing their best to one-up each other with
heartbreaking anecdotes about the millions who will suffer in the
event of a government shutdown and showy bravado over the need for
greater fiscal stewardship, while conveniently failing to rein in
two of the biggest drains on our budget--namely, the military and
surveillance industrial complexes.
Indeed, while a government shutdown will inevitably impact
everything from Head Start, and key welfare
services to national museums and IRS audits, the one area not
impacted in the least will be the police/surveillance state and its various
militarized agencies, spying programs and personnel. Incredibly,
although more than 800,000 government workers
could find themselves without paychecks or with reduced (or for
members of the military, delayed) paychecks, President Obama and
Congress will still get paid on time.
Take a look at the programs and policies that will not be
affected by a government shutdown, and you'll get a clearer sense
of the government's priorities--priorities which, as I point out in
my new book, A Government of Wolves: The
Emerging American Police State, have little to do with
serving taxpayers and everything to do with maintaining power and
control, while being sold to the public under the guise of national security.
Domestic surveillance. On any given day,
whether you're walking through a store, driving your car, checking
email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be
sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other
entity, is listening in and tracking your behavior. Police have
been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license
plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data
recorders. Technology now makes it possible for the police to scan
passersby in order to detect the contents of their pockets, purses,
briefcases, etc. Full-body scanners, which perform virtual
strip-searches of Americans traveling by plane, have gone mobile,
with roving police vans that peer into vehicles and buildings
alike--including homes. Coupled with the nation's growing network
of real-time surveillance cameras and facial recognition software,
soon there really will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
NSA domestic programs. Government shutdown or
not, the National Security Agency (NSA), with its $10.8 billion
black ops annual budget, will continue to spy on every person in
the United States who uses a computer or phone using programs such
as PRISM and XKEYSCORE. By cracking the security of all major
smartphones, including iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices, NSA
agents harvest such information as contacts, text
messages, and location data. And then there are the NSA agents
who will continue to use and abuse their surveillance powers for
personal means, to spy on girlfriends, lovers and
first dates.
Global spying. The NSA's massive surveillance
network, what the Washington Post refers
to as a $500 billion "espionage empire," will continue to span
the globe and target every single person on the planet who uses a
phone or a computer. The NSA's Echelon program intercepts and
analyzes virtually every phone call, fax and
email message sent anywhere in the world. In addition to
carrying out domestic surveillance on peaceful political groups
such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and several religious
groups, Echelon has also been a keystone to the government's
attempts at political and corporate
espionage.
Roving TSA searches. If there is any absolute
maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that
the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. Indeed, one of the
greatest culprits when it comes to swindling taxpayers has been the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with its questionable
deployment of and complete mismanagement of millions of dollars'
worth of airport full-body, X-ray scanners, punitive patdowns by
TSA agents and thefts of travelers' valuables. Considered essential
to national security, TSA programs will continue, not only in
airports but at transportation hubs around the
country.
VIPR Strikes. Under the pretext of protecting
the nation's infrastructure (roads, mass transit systems, water and
power supplies, telecommunications systems and so on) against
criminal or terrorist attacks, VIPR task forces (comprised of
federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors,
transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and
explosive detection canine teams) will continue to do random
security sweeps of nexuses of transportation, including ports,
railway and bus stations, airports, ferries and subways. VIPR teams
will also be deployed to elevate the security presence at certain
special events such as political conventions, baseball games and
music concerts. Sweep tactics include the use of x-ray technology,
pat-downs and drug-sniffing dogs, among other things.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA. America's so-called
war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, has
chipped away at our freedoms, unraveled our Constitution and
transformed our nation into a battlefield, thanks in large part to
such subversive legislation as the USA Patriot Act and National
Defense Authorization Act. These laws--which completely circumvent
the rule of law and the constitutional rights of American citizens,
re-orienting our legal landscape in such a way as to ensure that
martial law, rather than the rule of law, our U.S. Constitution,
becomes the map by which we navigate life in the United
States--will continue to be enforced.
Militarized police state. Thanks to federal
grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military
supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without
charge, police forces will continue to be transformed from peace
officers into heavily armed extensions of the military, complete
with jackboots, helmets, shields, batons, pepper-spray, stun guns,
assault rifles, body armor, miniature tanks and weaponized drones.
Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser,
search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in
almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the
courts, America's law enforcement officials, no longer mere
servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace, will
continue to keep the masses corralled, under control, and treated
like suspects and enemies rather than citizens. Just recently, the
Dept. of Justice--clearly not suffering from a shortage of
funds--approved grants totaling $3.2 million to fund law
enforcement jobs and expand community policy, and that's just in Virginia.
SWAT team raids. With more than 80,000 SWAT
team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans for
relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim
to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched
raids and related casualties will continue to rise. Nationwide,
SWAT teams will continue to be employed to address an astonishingly
trivial array of criminal activity or mere community nuisances
including angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed
by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Domestic drones. The domestic use of drones
will continue unabated. As mandated by Congress, there will be
30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part
of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year.
These machines will be able to record all activities, using video
feeds, heat sensors and radar. A recent Inspector General report
revealed that the Dept. of Justice has already spent nearly $4
million on drones domestically, largely for use
by the FBI, with grants for another $1.26 million so police
departments and nonprofits can acquire their own
drones.
Schoolhouse to jailhouse track. The paradigm
of abject compliance to the state will continue to be taught by
example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and
drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies
that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being
expelled for childish behavior. School districts will continue to
team up with law enforcement to create a "schoolhouse to jailhouse
track" by imposing a "double dose" of punishment: suspension or
expulsion from school, accompanied by an arrest by the police and a
trip to juvenile court. Just recently, in Virginia, two seventh
graders were suspended for the rest of the school year for playing with airsoft guns in their own yard
before school.
Overcriminalization. The government
bureaucracy will continue to churn out laws, statutes, codes and
regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those
of the police state and its corporate allies, rendering the rest of
us petty criminals. The average American now unknowingly commits
three felonies a day, thanks to this overabundance of vague laws
that render otherwise innocent activity illegal. Consequently,
small farmers who dare to make unpasteurized goat cheese and share
it with members of their community will continue to have their
farms raided.
Privatized Prisons. States will continue to
outsource prisons to private corporations, resulting in a cash cow
whereby mega-corporations imprison Americans in private prisons in
order to make a profit. In exchange for corporations buying and
managing public prisons across the country at a supposed savings to
the states, the states have to agree to maintain a 90% occupancy
rate in the privately run prisons for at least 20 years. Just
recently, California entered into a 5-year contract to have Geo
Group house their inmates to the tune of $30
million annually.
Endless wars. America's expanding military
empire will continue to bleed the country dry at a rate of more
than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour). The Pentagon
spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health,
education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to
recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping
the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military
industrial complex at taxpayer expense. In fact, given that Al-Qaeda's capability to penetrate the American
homeland is nil, the chances of dying in a terrorist attack are
miniscule.
Thus, when it comes right down to it, whether or not the
shutdown takes place, it will remain business as usual in terms of
the government's unceasing pursuit of greater powers and control.
These issues are not going away. They are the backbone of an
increasingly aggressive authoritarian government, formed by an
unholy alliance between the mega-corporations with little concern
for the Constitution and elected officials and bureaucrats
incapable or unwilling to represent the best interests of their
constituents.
So where do we go from here? If public opposition, outright
challenges, and a government shutdown don't stop or even slow down
the police state, what's to be done?
Do what you must to survive. Go to work, take care of your
family, pay off your debts. But when you're not doing those things,
which allow you to get by day-to-day, consider the
future.
Pay attention to the political structure that is being created
in the shadows, the economic system that is chaining us down with
debt, and the feudal, fascist society borne out of the marriage of
government and big business. Avoid the propaganda mills posing as
news sources. Express your outrage, loudly and tirelessly, to the
government's incursions on our freedoms. Yet act locally--taking
issue with any and every encroachment on your rights, no matter how
minor, whether it's a ban on goat cheese or installations of red
light cameras at intersections and on school buses--because
reclaiming our rights from the ground up, starting locally and
trickling up, remains our only hope.
Resistance may seem futile, it will be hard, and there will
inevitably be a price to pay for resisting the emerging tyranny,
but to the extent that you are able, RESIST.
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