Terrorism: The New Excuse

You know, the sad fact is that we Americans did it to ourselves. We allowed a paternalistic system of government to develop, a system which for some time has over-regulated us as though we were a nation of five-year-olds. It started with “little things” that we thought were inconsequential and gave in to: the police hauling us in for not having a seat-belt or a crash- helmet on; fining us or threatening jail time for smoking in a public park; allowing government-backed employers to keep us under camera surveillance in our workplaces; and so forth. We kept on giving in. Now we’re used to being compliant school-children; and the piper is going to be paid.
Now the corporate politicians know how easily we can be “trained;” and we’re no longer just children. We’re orphans. We can ask a few questions- but not too many- when they use the “war on terror” to justify the wrenching away of whatever rights we had left. And we just watch while they distribute the bulk of the nation’s wealth to themselves and to their fraternity brothers while we feel guilty because we don’t know how we’re going to pay for our family’s health care or our kids’ education. And retirement-- forget about it. We’ll have to work ’til we drop. We didn’t make it into the fraternity. Big Brother knows best.