July 30, 2002
A View From Down Under
Ritt Goldstein's Foundations are in place for martial law in the US in the Sydney Morning Herald offers an edge of objectivity by virtue of it being from Australia, and that cool perspective provides a sobering view for Americans who are never exposed to anything outside the American corporate media system.Think about this: according to an article in the Detroit Free Press the Federal Emergency Management Agency has "practiced" for internment camps for Arab Americans. FEMA is responsible for handling domestic unrest. The corporate state doesn't want any more Seattles. It doesn't want anyone telling it it can't make first strikes, even nuclear strikes on other countries. In the past, the citizens of America have inhibited the attempts of the U.S. government to take over other countries, to invade countries and murder their civilians. These things have gone on, but they have been kept under cover under cloaks of propaganda that characterize the invasion in some noble way that is appealing to Americans, or at least doesn't outrage them.
Obviously, the corporate state no longer wants to have to shield its activities. It doesn't want to be restricted. The Bush/Rumsfeld/Cheney/Ashford Rat Pack, wants to be able to engage in any military adventures abroad or at home without restriction, without pesky civilians getting in the way. This is not speculation, these are the stated policies of the Bush administration in plain English.
The more momentum the movement toward martial law gains, the more difficult it will be to stop. There is no guarantee that democratic laws will remain operative. The gap continues to close, but there are still democratic principles established as laws. Unfortunately they are rapidly being dismantled. The moment of opportunity will pass. If democratic principles are not exercised, under present trends it is inevitable that they will continue to diminish until there is no longer any legal basis for citizens to have any say at all in the affairs of state.
This is not what America was meant to be.
-- By David Cogswell