war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
“All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” George Orwell
George Orwell wrote his legendary novel 1984 just after World War II. It is renowned for its portrayal of government’s encroachment on the rights of the individual. It was Orwell’s warning against totalitarianism, specifically Stalin’s Soviet Union. Pervasive thought control and surveillance of citizens is prominent throughout the novel. After living through the last eight years under the Bush administration and observing the marketing effort of the coming stimulus plan by the Obama team, the U.S. has moved closer than ever to Orwell’s nightmare world. In the novel, The Party maintained control of Oceania by manipulating facts, history, and citizens to retain power and dominate the masses. In the United States of today we theoretically have two major parties, Democrats and Republicans. In reality, we have one Party made up of the wealthy elite ruling class backed by enormous corporate interests and protected by the military industrial complex. There are no major differences between Republicans and Democrats, just minor meaningless variations. They are both under the control of the fascist corporate oligopoly that runs this country. Representative Ron Paul explains how The Party is able to maintain control in today’s world:
“Pretending that a true difference exists between the two major candidates is a charade of great proportion. Many who help to perpetuate this myth are frequently unaware of what they are doing and believe that significant differences actually do exist. Indeed, on small points there is the appearance of a difference. The real issues, however, are buried in a barrage of miscellaneous nonsense and endless pontifications by robotic pundits hired to perpetuate the myth of a campaign of substance. Influential forces, the media, the government, the privileged corporations and moneyed interests see to it that both party’s candidates are acceptable, regardless of the outcome, since they will still be in charge. It’s been that way for a long time. The two parties and their candidates have no real disagreements on foreign policy, monetary policy, privacy issues, or the welfare state. They both are willing to abuse the Rule of Law and ignore constitutional restraint on Executive Powers. Neither major party champions free markets and private-property ownership. Those candidates who represent actual change or disagreement with the status quo are held in check by the two major parties in power, making it very difficult to compete in the pretend democratic process. This is done by making it difficult for third-party candidates to get on the ballots, enter into the debates, raise money, avoid being marginalized, or get fair or actual coverage.”
Government has progressively acquired more power over the lives of Americans. They have done it subtly for decades but it has accelerated at warp speed in the last eight years. Since 9/11, Americans have seen their liberties taken away on a scale reminiscent of the McCarthy years during the 1950s. In the last year, government has taken advantage of this financial crisis to step into the breach and gained complete control over our banking system and auto industry. They are choosing the winners and losers in our society. They have chosen to save their rich ruling elite brethren who made billions by taking excessive criminal risk, and throw the middle class under the bus. The average American does not see the insidious method that The Party has used to gain overwhelming power over their lives. The U.S. government has used chaos, fear, and exaggeration to expand their control. The method used to gain control is simple. Government creates a problem, fans the flames to make the problem appear to be extremely dangerous, and then provide a solution that only government can implement.
The Government now spends $2.9 trillion per year, or 20% of GDP. With the proposed stimulus, government spending could breach 30% of GDP. In 1929, Government spending accounted for only 9% of GDP. In 2000, when President Bush ascended to power, spending on National Defense was 3.8% of GDP. Today it is 4.8%, having risen by 79% since 2000. In 1940, prior to WW II, National Defense accounted for 2.5% of GDP.
By 2011, 30% of all the spending in our country will be done by BIG GOVERNMENT. When the costs of Homeland Security, veteran’s benefits, interest on the debt related to military spending, spending on NASA and nuclear arms are included, National Defense accounts for 54% of Government spending. The Military Industrial Complex is calling the shots when it comes to how government operates. A question everyone needs to ask themselves:
Is it worth the loss of liberties and rights to allow the government to control and protect you?
Control of Information and HistoryWho controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
Party slogan 1984
The complete lack of interest or care about American history by the vast majority of citizens, allows them to be misled by the State. The past is portrayed as being worse than today. The public is easily manipulated by the propaganda put out by the government and trumpeted by Big Media. As the Democrats make their misleading case for a $1 TRILLION pork filled stimulus package, they are telling the American public that FDR’s New Deal spending in the 1930s worked to pull the country out of the Great Depression. That is a bold faced lie. The GDP of the U.S. was $104 billion in 1929. It did not exceed that level until 1941 as spending on National Defense jumped by 500%. Unemployment was still 19% in 1938, years after the New Deal programs had been instituted. Economists Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder argue that the "Great Depression was very significantly prolonged in both its duration and its magnitude by the impact of New Deal programs. Without Social Security, work relief, unemployment insurance, mandatory minimum wages, and without special government-granted privileges for labor unions, business would have hired more workers and the unemployment rate during the New Deal years would have been 6.7% instead of 17.2%.” If the American public was not being misled, they would see that the next decade will be a government induced nightmare.
The Bush administration led by Dick Cheney, have been masters of manipulating the masses through lies, deception and half truths. I can easily envision Dick Cheney speaking the O’Brien dialogue from 1984.
There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this, Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face ... forever.
In the 1980s the United States provided Sadaam Hussein with the weapons and funding to fight a war with our mortal enemy, Iran. We provided Osama Bin Laden with weapons to defeat our other mortal enemy, the Soviet Union. We enabled these maniacs to gain power and prestige in the Muslim world. By the 1990’s these two were our sworn enemies. The vast majority of Americans have no idea that we supplied these men with weapons and financial support, which ultimately led to thousands of American deaths. Alliances and enemies are interchangeable in the America of today, very much like Oceania in Orwell’s 1984.
Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which HE happened to remember. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible. Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth Jackie Jura – www.orwelltoday.com
The U.S. government controls the flow of information that is used to stage-manage public opinion. Every statistic is massaged in a way to reflect the most positive view of the world. The gullible public and clueless Wall Street professionals accept these statistics with no questions asked. Government has learned that they can make bad news seem like a victory if they’ve built expectations for worse news. The Bush administration a few years ago forecasted a budget deficit of $400 billion and broke out champagne bottles when it finished at $300 billion. Only government bureaucrats could celebrate such a disastrous result. The Party attempts to keep the public in the dark, but the Resistance exists to shed light on their lies. Economist John Williams has been uncovering the government manipulation of facts and revealing the truth for many years.
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