This is how it begins.
We are moving fast down that slippery slope to an authoritarian society in which the only opinions, ideas and speech expressed are the ones permitted by the government and its corporate cohorts.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, "domestic terrorism" has become the new poster child for expanding the government's powers at the expense of civil liberties.
Of course, "domestic terrorist" is just the latest bull's-eye phrase, to be used interchangeably with "anti-government," "extremist" and "terrorist," to describe anyone who might fall somewhere on a very broad spectrum of viewpoints that could be considered "dangerous."
Watch and see: We are all about to become enemies of the state.
In a de'jà vu mirroring of the legislative fall-out from 9/11, and the ensuing build-up of the security state, there is a growing demand in certain sectors for the government to be given expanded powers to root out "domestic" terrorism, the Constitution be damned.
This demand for greater domestic policing powers follows the same pattern as every other convenient "crisis" used by the government as an excuse to expand its powers at the citizenry's expense and at the expense of our freedoms.
Cue the Emergency State, the government's Machiavellian version of crisis management that justifies all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security.
This is the power grab hiding in plain sight, obscured by the political machinations of the self-righteous elite. This is how the government continues to exploit crises and use them as opportunities for power grabs under the guise of national security. Indeed, this is exactly how the government added red-flag gun laws, precrime surveillance, fusion centers, threat assessments, mental health assessments, involuntary confinement to its arsenal of weaponized powers.
The objective is not to make America safe again. That has never been the government's aim.
Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald explains:
Why would such new terrorism laws be needed in a country that already imprisons more of its citizens than any other country in the world as the result of a very aggressive set of criminal laws? What acts should be criminalized by new 'domestic terrorism' laws that are not already deemed criminal? They never say, almost certainly because--just as was true of the first set of new War on Terror laws--their real aim is to criminalize that which should not be criminalized: speech, association, protests, opposition to the new ruling coalition.
Yet where many go wrong is in assuming that you have to be doing something illegal or challenging the government's authority in order to be flagged as a suspicious character, labeled an enemy of the state and locked up like a dangerous criminal.
Eventually, all you will really need to do is use certain trigger words, surf the internet, communicate using a cell phone, drive a car, stay at a hotel, purchase materials at a hardware store, take flying or boating lessons, appear suspicious, question government authority, or generally live in the United States.
The groundwork has already been laid.
The trap is set.
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