IS 1984 HERE YET?

IS 1984 HERE YET?

Thursday, March 30, 2006

In 1950 George Orwell wrote a landmark fictional book that predicted that government of the future; in 1984, would control almost every aspect of daily life. In this book, the Thought Police always seemed to know what people were thinking and what they were doing. This book became a fictional staple in the 1960s; an era of exploration in science, science fiction, and pushing the boundaries of conventional thought. Many people thought that “1984” was fascinating, intriguing, but also somewhat ominous. Could government actually control everything we do? We hoped not.

But in 2006 that seems to be precisely the case. Now we look back to 1984 as the “good ole days;” when there was relatively less control of government in people’s lives. And 1950, well, those were indeed the truly free days. So, what happened to bring us to this present-day state of subservience to government?

Well, first there was the need for greater security. During the Cold War, that translated into giving government more power to protect Americans from the dreaded Soviet Union, communists with nukes. The Military-Industrial Complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned Americans about started and built up rapidly. Now, with their friends in the U.S. Congress, the largest peacetime buildup ever was underway. Prior to the Cold War, the concept of maintaining a large standing army was practically non existent. It was believed that if the United States was attacked, then America would mobilize to defend itself.

The mindset was one that America needed to take care of its own interests at home and ‘home’ included Latin America as part of the Monroe Doctrine. Though the U.S. fought in two world wars in the 20th Century prior to the start of the Cold War, the concept of keeping a large peacetime army remained a distant thought. But with the Cold War and the expansion of communism, things began to change. First, communist expansionism had to be stopped in Korea, then Cuba, and finally in Vietnam. The Domino Theory held that communism expansionism would continue until most of the world fell under their rule, falling one country at a time, like a domino. A larger standing army, it was believed, was necessary to stop this expansionism, particularly in Europe.

A second major reason that we are now subservient to government is because we allowed government to expand into areas that had not been its province before. The Depression left an indelible mark on the American psyche. The social welfare system began to expand dramatically. Do-gooders created the social security system to help people in need. Now we all have social security numbers used as an internal passport in the U.S., something that government promised would never happen at the time. Government education camps, sometimes referred to as ‘public schools,’ sprang up and expanded into the mess that we now have today. Welfare, in all of its 32 variations, created another ‘safety net’ for people and it has been institutionalized ever since, creating one significant side affect; the institutionalization of slavery into the 20th and 21st Centuries.

The third significant event has been the “fight against terrorism.” Now all of our personal data is in the hands of the government, its contractors, and businesses who sell our information to whoever wants to pay for it. Our business transactions are monitored. The government watches our checking and savings accounts as well as our investments. They make certain we pay our taxes or track us down and harass us until we do. We cannot fly unless we are listed satisfactorily in a government and an airline database. Now the government uses drivers’ license numbers, an outgrowth of social security numbers, to hunt and track down deadbeat dads, people who owe taxes, and any ‘wants and warrants’ for people the government is chasing.

In sum, we are in a very sad state of affairs. Once upon a time there was this document called the U.S. Constitution; you know the document that everyone in government talks about but none of them follow. Well, this document was created to protect the natural rights of Man against the tyranny of government. Our elected representatives continue to not follow this document. We, the People, need to change that. Please read this document. An online version may be found at:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_documents&docid=f:hd096.108

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Clip from movie 1984
http://www.apfn.org/audio/1984-Youth1.mp3