On Celebrating Dependence Day

by | Jul 4, 2015

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I shall spend the remainder of this July 4th hiding beneath my bed, with as many pillows packed around me as I can find. I have not forgotten the important “duck-and-cover” strategy in which we were conditioned to protect us from Cold War-era nuclear attacks. I am ready for the impending “terrorist” attack that government officials and their media lackeys inform us is likely to occur, although they admit to a total lack of evidence of such a threat!

I am reminded of the warnings of a Nebraska state legislator who, at the height of the McCarthy crusades, told us that communists were embedded within the faculty of the state university. When told that there was no evidence to support his claim, he replied “the lack of evidence only shows how sinister and well-organized is their presence.”

The same thinking oozes forth from the mainstream media, with CNN being, perhaps, the principal advocate of the proposition. And with so many “security experts,” and “military advisors,” and other corporate-state functionaries brought out to remind us of just how threatening is darkness and the unseen, well, what else are intelligent people to do but trust in the warnings and judgments of those who can see what no one else can see? [Do you remember the fear you experienced in watching the Jaws movie, with only the accompanying music to inform you of the deadly menace waiting in the dark waters?]

When I turned on one of the local TV newscasts this morning, the first thing I saw was video of local storm-troopers [ooops, policemen] walking around with machine-guns, and of being advised that “if you see something, say something.” But if I see something I’m not supposed to see, should I nonetheless “say something” and, if so, to whom? I recall Ed Snowden acting on this premise, a man who is now forced to hide out in Russia lest some U.S. government official be able to carry out his wish to “put a bullet in Snowden’s head.”

Oh, what to do, what to do? I shall be unable to watch CNN from beneath the confines of my bed, but I can turn the TV volume up high enough to hear Wolf Blitzer’s recitation of the July 4th mantra. If, as the day proceeds, no “attack” occurs, will a false-flag operation be resorted to [google “Operation Northwoods” to see how this might be arranged]? Ahhh, we will then be reminded that the warnings did have merit, and we should be grateful that the state enjoys as much power as it has in order to “protect” us.

On the other hand, if no such attack takes place, we will be told that government intelligence – made possible by the surveillance of everything everyone says or does – prevented the incipient attacks. When, like the claims of the erstwhile Nebraska legislator, evidence is demanded to support the proposition, we would likely be told that making such evidence public would reveal to the “enemy” the processes by which an all-knowing government is able to ferret out threats. This would demonstrate to Boobus Americanus how the speaking of “truth” is an act of treason; of Mark Twain’s warning that “truth is the most valuable thing we have. Let us economize it.”

In whatever way events of this day play themselves out, the state – and its media toadies – will claim success, and of the necessary powers of the state to protect us from threats that only its assorted “experts” can see. At the end of the day, I will be able to remove myself from beneath my bed and, like members of the boobeoisie, content myself with e-n-d-l-e-s-s days of e-n-d-l-e-s-s tales of how two convicted killers managed to escape from prison!

Reprinted with permission from LewRockwell.com.

Author

  • Butler Shaffer

    Butler D. Shaffer was an American author, law professor and speaker, known for his numerous libertarian books and blog articles for LewRockwell.com. He was a Professor of Law Emeritus at the Los Angeles-based Southwestern University School of Law.

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