Sometimes you start writing something, and in the middle of the damn thing you realize that you were wrong. That happened to me here, and it’s not so much that I was wrong, but that I was approaching the subject from the wrong perspective. I’ll let you know with a [*] when I realized my error.
Would somebody please tell me exactly when, if the date can be pinpointed, we lost the right of dissent in this country? Through all of the warmongering vomit spewing out of the mouths of American patriots about how this is ‘the greatest country in the world’ I’ve had to endure in 55 years of life in the empire, the one thing that made me think that this was, actually, a pretty remarkable place, was the fact that as American citizens, we have the right, not only to possess dissenting opinions, but to also express them without fear of reprisal from the government or, hopefully, the hillbillies down the street.
Unfortunately, the ‘death of dissent’ date is hidden in the annals, or rather the asses, of America’s corporate power elite, and their marionettes; the insane fringe right of the tea party that now directs the war against the poor in vast swaths of the American social landscape (sort of like those ISIL guys). In fact, the more I think about it, the more I see the similarities between the tea party, the christian right, and ISIL…wow, now there’s an unholy trinity for you.
Soon, it will be like the the ‘death of the Jesus way’ in Christianity. That was date on which being a Christian changed from being someone who sought to emulate the way Jesus lived his life and practice the things he taught, to getting your ass saved, then figuring out the absolute minimum you had to do in order to sneak that so-called “saved” ass of yours into heaven when you die.
This ass saving, of course, must now begin with the recitation of that idiotic prayer some baptist shit-head invented about (in your best hillbilly voice, now) “Jesus, I ask you into my heart.” Excuse me while I go puke. I’ve never said that prayer, and I never will. It’s sort of like corndogs to me now; I’ve never had one of those nasty things and I never will. Nobody knows the exact date Christianity devoled into the ass saving club; its perpetrators have hidden it from us forever.
The days of the right of dissent in America are gone, and it is with great regret that I write this post. That’s quite a claim, so before I move on, allow me to clarify exactly what I mean by that. We have the right to dissent against a limited number of individual policies pursued by our government, but the right to dissent against the jingoistic hyper-patriotism that has become the hallmark of American gun culture is gone. If you do this loudly and publicly, then you will suffer retribution, both from the government and individuals. At this point, dissent is no longer a right, it’s a risk.
Last week, this country arrested three men who were “suspected” of leaving the country in order to fight for the Islamic State. Really? Let me try to wrap my brain around that for a moment. The government arrested three men, not even American citizens, who were suspected of traveling to fight for ISIL.
I have several questions. First, since when can you arrest someone on suspicion of planning to do something, that is not a crime, at some unknown day in the future? Don’t worry, I understand the charge of ‘conspiracy,’ but this does not meet even the most basic criteria for that. Even if these men were planning to become ISIL fighters, so what? We are not engaged in a war with them. Sure, ISIL’s tactics are considered barbaric by even the most nominal western standards, but their status as enemies of America are based upon a long stretch of any sort of justifiable policy. They are enemies of America merely because our government says they are so. Certainly, they have gruesomely murdered a few Americans along with others, but that should make them enemies of these people’s families, not the American empire as a whole.
The government of a republic which claims to operate under the democratic system doe not have the right to tell me who is and who is not my enemy. That is something that I alone can decide. If I want to believe and say that ISIL is totally badass, that’s my right! If I want to say this country’s free market theocracy is the most disgusting sack of shit human culture has ever produced, that’s my right!
ISIL will have its day in the sun, there is no stopping that, but are we to lose our souls in pursuit of them? Arresting these men was exactly that: sacrificing our souls to say were are fighting a perceived enemy. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this, either. People should remember that we have sacrificed our souls for all sorts of things: Denying minorities of all races, creeds, and female gender the same status under the constitution that white males have enjoyed since its ratification.
Americans need to also remember several other things:
1. The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, commonly referred to as the ‘bill of rights,’ are legal expressions of those ‘unalienable rights’ of which Thomas Jefferson spoke so eloquently in the Declaration of Independence. These rights, being unalienable, are not based upon a person’s citizenship. They are not presented as gifts to people of certain nationalities, but are to all people “endowed by their creator.”
2. As recently as World War II there were organized groups in the United States who declared their support for Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. They were largely ignored, but they had the right of dissent. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot; they were white males. [*]
So there you have it; the point at which I realized my error. The issue is not that we do not have the right to dissent, but that dissent against white, corporate, right wing America is outside the rules.
Dissent by people of color against white corporate America is what has been lost. Dissent against hyper-patrotism has been lost. Dissent against what we consider our right to violate any state’s territorial integrity for our own purposes has been lost.
Our soul as the United States of America has been lost, and we are now the most dangerous rogue state on the planet.
I dissent!
Peace,
Niemand