What means this martial array?

 

In his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in the old St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia Patrick Henry, citing King George’s preparation to subdue the American colonies asked this Question, “What means this martial array”. Unfortunately the question is once again relevant.

There is one indisputable fact that needs to be repeated until it is understood and absorbed by every freedom loving American. The United States was not attacked on September 11^th, 2001 because we did not have a police state; we were attacked because officials in the federal government, who were responsible for protecting the American people, did not do their jobs.

The basic outline for the Twin Towers attack was in the hands of the FBI in 1995. It was given to them by the Philippine National Police after its discovery in the apartment of Islamic terror mastermind Ramzi Yousef. It included the plan to use airliners as missiles and named at least some of the targets that were hit by the Moslem terrorists.

Warnings by FBI field agents and employees of flight schools that Arabs were taking lessons on how to steer airliners but not on how to put them in the air or land them were ignored by senior federal officials.

We were told that the confusion regarding these warnings arose from an opinion in a memo written by one Jamie Gorelick, a Justice Department hack serving under Janet Reno during the Clinton administration. This same person, whose actions, in effect, prevented a timely response which might have stopped the 9-11 attacks, was then allowed to sit on the commission investigating the worst act of terrorism in the nation’s history.

In the days following 9-11 President Bush said there would be no recriminations for those who had failed in their duty. In fact some of those whose lack of action and judgment made us vulnerable were promoted.

In short, it was immediately apparent that no one within the federal government would be held responsible for what can only be called deadly incompetence.

As frightening as these facts are they pale in comparison to the rush to seize extra-constitutional power by the federal government following the collapse of the Twin Towers .

First we were told instead of changing the policy that (allegedly) prevented the FBI and the CIA from sharing intelligence, which would have taken a one page memo, we would have to create a monstrous new cabinet department with a host of new and often secret powers. The overarching security apparatus that is The Department of Homeland Security was as foreign in its concept to the American people as its name was unwholesome sounding to the ears of those who remembered the police states of recent European history.

Then we were informed that because the 9-11 plotters had acquired phony identity documents, the American people for the first in our history would be forced to carry an internal passport albeit masquerading as an enhanced driver’s license. Let’s be clear on this point. The idea that numbering Americans like cattle will stop state supported terrorists from acquiring documentation needed for their evil ends reveals a naiveté’ unworthy of a thinking adult.

Then there is the so-called Patriot Act. There is no doubt there are some people who believe that this legislation was formulated by wise men rushing to address short comings of the law in order to protect the American people against further terrorist atrocities. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The patriot Act was in fact a shopping list of extra-constitutional police powers that the federal establishment had been wanting for decades. The enabling legislation was presented to the congress fifteen minutes before the vote for its passage. Further, the actual language of the act was presented as amendments to the existing federal code, the size of which roughly equals eight to ten sets of the encyclopedia Britannica. Those who voted for the patriot Act had no idea whatsoever of its contents yet in order to do “something” they signed their name to one of the gravest insults to liberty since the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Now I need to make it clear that when this handbook for tyrants first reared it ugly head I railed with all the force I could muster against its passage, Republican sympathies not withstanding, I do not trust any human institution with this kind of power. However in defense of those who first let loose this beast they at least included a sunset provision should the law prove to be dangerous to freedom. It took a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president to make it permanent without any means for its abolition.

Since then, the newly established security establishment has piled on in its attacks on American freedoms grabbing any power that suits its fancy. There are the secret warrants, not signed by any judge, which permits federal agencies free reign to search what they please without restraint. In the pre-revolutionary America these would have been called Writs of Assistance and were one of the acts of tyranny that led to end of British rule in America  Further should anyone reveal that such a warrant has been served they are subject to prosecution.

There is also the presumption of the part of the government that U.S. citizens have no right to privacy in their electronic communications. Now there is a ruling that the Ninth Circuit court of Appeals which says that the government can come on to your property and attach tracking devices to your automobile, no warrant needed. There is an exception if your home is surrounded by a fence with a gate, then and only then does the fourth amendment apply.

In the last few months we have learned the predator drone aircraft have been stationed in the US primarily along the border with Mexico . We are told that they are to be used for surveillance however these aircraft are weapons of war with the capability of carrying Hellfire missiles. More recently its been reported that over 400 vans equipped with X-ray equipment capable of peering into houses or motor vehicles have been acquired by Homeland Security, who refuses to respond to congressional inquiries as to where they are deployed  and for what purpose.

 There are those, foolishly trusting and naïve, who believe that this build up of police state assets is designed to protect the public from terrorism. The supposition that government can protect you from the dangers posed by madmen is as false as it is pernicious.

The only thing I want the national government to protect is my freedom. I will depend on the almighty to protect my life.

There is one uncomfortable question that must be asked. If these preparations are not meant to protect the populace then whom are they meant to protect? It is becoming more and more obvious that both the speed and the thoroughness of these social controls can have only one purpose.

It is my opinion that the political establishment realizes that its claims of acting for the national good are no longer believable. The bills are coming due and must be paid by the American people and their children after them, for the power elite has no intention of restoring what they have stolen.

 For the self-anointed ruling class this realization has instilled a dread of retribution that means an end to their unearned privileges and their ability live off the toil of others. They know well that the power that they have abused was only loaned to them by the sufferance of the majority, and that sufferance is coming to an end.

Could it be that those who have laid waste to this great nation see a potential for a middle class revolt, not the polite variety with protest signs but the kind that brings unpleasant retribution, Do they see those who actually produce wealth and stability for the nation saying “We will tolerate no more” and refusing to stand and watch the destruction of all they hold dear?

In short I believe that the political establishment fears the people, and it should.

Written by John Russell