America, the Dictatorship

Incrementally, but noticeably, the United States is shedding its democracy.

Hard-won civil liberties are willingly sacrificed for the sake of illusory added security. Institutions are stacked with political, partisan appointees who do their puppetmaster's bidding. Laws are openly broken and the Constitution flaunted with breathtaking callousness and an ease that would have been considered unthinkable on September 10, 2001. I wouldn't be surprised if the forthcoming presidential elections are suspended due to this perpetual "state of emergency".

Largely ignorant of history and thus devoid of any meaningful or helpful perspective, people shrug off this doomsday scenario. They forget that Rome - a four hundred years old republic with venerable institutions like the Roman Senate - gave in to tyranny in the space of four years. The same goes for ancient Athens, the first truly participatory democracy on earth, transformed by wars into a hideous dictatorship.

America's is a malignantly narcissistic culture. Its denizens believe counterfactually that it is the richest, most virtuous, freest, society on earth. Reasonably, they are convinced that everyone is destructively envious of them. This renders them paranoid and violent. An early and observant traveler, Alexis de Tocqueville, noted this siege mentality and warned that the United States is walking a thin line between freedom and authoritarianism.

It is this ingrained belief that the world is hostile and harsh that will likely undo the American experiment. Psychology teaches us about projective identification - a defense mechanism that forces people around you to behave the way you are accustomed and expect them to. Treating everyone as a potential enemy usually turns them into ones.

Gender Equality

The state of gender equality has vastly improved in the past few
decades. Career, education and business opportunities have
really opened up for women, and we are seeing successful females
in many different situations. But have we truly reached
equality? Even with all the improvements made, the answer is
still, unfortunately, "no."

For every hard-working female executive, there is a working
mother who has been passed over for a promotion. For every
respected female professor, there is an educated woman somewhere
who's knowledge is not being taken seriously. The people who
discriminate against these women may not even be conscious of
the fact that they are doing it. Gender bias is deeply rooted in
our collective psyche, but that is no excuse. We must constantly
remind ourselves to be aware of how we are perceiving and
treating others.

Remember the recent furor over Jane Swift, the pregnant governor
of Massachusetts? Pages and pages of newsprint were devoted to
the debate on whether or not she could be an effective mother
and still run the state. This would never have happened to
a man, not even a single father.

It is amazing to me that, in this new millennium, such basic
gender stereotypes are being perpetuated. Are gender roles so
stamped into our brains that we can't conceive of the fact that a
woman can successfully raise a family while maintaining a high
profile career? Mrs. Swift is probably perfectly capable of
handling both jobs, or at least of delegating responsibility so
that everything is taken care of. Sure she'll be busy, but lots
of very busy men manage to make things work every day without
ever having their qualifications questioned.

As people working in small home-businesses, we can help to make
change in these areas. By stepping out of the brick and mortar
business world we have already effectively said no to corporate
politics. Already, far more women are having success with online
and home businesses than with regular corporations. Just look at
Meg Whitman of Ebay and Abbie Drew of DEMC. Although Meg came
into Ebay later in the game, she has made it the most successful
online retail auction business in the world. Abbie Drew started
from scratch, and now DEMC, the Internet's very first business
ezine, provides advertising and expert small business advice for
hundreds of thousands of people.

This is all great, but why not take it a step further? Take a
stand for gender rights and commit to treating men and women with
absolute equality in all your business dealings. When making a
decision to use someone's services or ask for someone's advice be
open minded. Remember, it's your colleague's track-record,
qualifications and personality that make them the great
businessperson they are, not their gender.

Nothing to Fear

Nothing to Fear

Terror is meant to change policy. Fear is meant to support policy. This is the Old World idea of balance. Guns change votes and that is why democracy is found nowhere. Nor would we want democracy if we had a choice, because we know the majority is more often wrong than right. In fact, the majority loves to be deceived and chooses deceivers to lead them down the road to glory. Europe has had so much of this last Century, it balks at the idea of supporting any potential 21st Century Hitler, on either side of the Atlantic.

Is it because the fearful are so much easier to control and manipulate that fear is the major product of world governments? Everywhere I look surely fear is the preferred tool. It is cheap and very easy to generate.

Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center attacks had a common goal and lesson. If your government cannot protect its own, how can it protect anyone else? Look at what your government does in the world, in your name. Do you approve? If you don't, what will you "free" people do about it? We will pay for it, of course, because we are free to pay for it.

We all would love to believe we are safer now that government is half awake. Instead, we sense the truth that our vulnerability increases every day. As long as we can stay alert to strange activity around us we can survive terror from without. We won't even look at the threats to and in the Capitol. The game is called look over here so you don't see what we are doing over there. We look where they point and fix our attention on their message. Why don't we look elsewhere for some other point of view? See if there is a big picture.

In November, 2001, Commander Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld assisted the escape of some 8000 members of al Qaeda from Afghanistan to Pakistan. As Pakistani transport planes airlifted thousands through an official no fire corridor, those on the ground had enough time to hike to the Pakistani border, about 120 miles away. This was fully reported on the PBS program, Now, with Bill Moyers. It aired 21 February, 2003. You can read an archived transcript @ PBS.Org.

We can imagine that cellular organization and skillful recruiting can double the number of cells in a year or less. 8,000 al Qaeda set free in November 2001, could easily be 20,000 today. We might ask how this can be called homeland security. Al Qaeda is not just bodies, but minds united by a worthy cause. Change U.S. policies.

Another lesson of September 11 is that a very determined enemy has the will to find a way. It took two attempts to destroy their priority target and the first attempt on the new priority target, the U.S. Capitol, is fair warning. If I lived or worked within 50 miles of the Capitol, I would not sleep well without self medicating and I assume most in that area do medicate.

So why would the President want to assist in a future attack on the very place he lives and works? The whole story is not to be found in the Now report, or with me. The advantage the terrorists have over America is a rich, fertile, collective imagination. Americans have little or none. So why don't we start reclaiming some imagination for ourselves? It could save a life or millions. It may be too late and not worth bothering about.

Let's imagine that al Qaeda and Pakistan are friendly allies. As a reward for 9/11, Pakistan presents al Qaeda with three or four nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles, supplied by North Korea. Or imagine three or four portable nukes flown in with the regular drug supply and turned over to American right wing extremists to place, under supervision. They are detonated by telephone when the time is right, or the ballistic missiles are loaded on some innocuous ship like an oil tanker, which cruises into striking distance and launches the entire payload at one or two targets.

For the love of symbolism al Qaeda has demonstrated, the strike comes when the U.S. invades Iraq, where much of our Homeland Security is at the moment. Washington D.C. is vaporized. The administration, with some advance warning, retires to its survival bunkers. When the dust clears, they are all that is left of national government and call the troops home to enforce the martial law demanded by the people. We intensify our war on terror by arresting you and your neighbor for lack of cooperation with the new rules. This is as hard for us to imagine as Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City or 9/11. If we can imagine it, we can start making decisions now about how we will allow such an event to affect us. I was hoping to warn Congress but they are so swamped with protest communications, my message is unlikely to reach them. They could be sacrificed before they fully realize the threat. I heard 9/11 was the result of communication failure. All successful attacks will be for this same reason.

Treason is a Capital crime. Providing aid and comfort to the enemy in time of war is the definition of treason or high treason. So why is the Capitol trusting their lives to the friends of al Qaeda in the White House? Is it possible not one of them knows what I have told you?

We are told that America does not distinguish between terrorists and those who support them. Assisting the escape of 8,000 al Qaeda supports terrorism as surely as money or training, which Congress also provides through Pakistan and other friends of the President. Should the people distinguish between traitors and those who support them? Is the entire military and Congress as guilty as the President and Secretary? How about taxpayers who make it all possible? Who is not guilty and due no punishment? Maybe America is overdue for a good whipping. Who will prevent it?

On the other hand, this is a new age. An age of brotherhood and science. I can see that aiding the escape of al Qaeda is a Christian and loving thing to do, not unlike allowing Saddam to leave Iraq with whatever entourage he chooses, before he is hunted down and eliminated. Who knows how we are loving Iran and North Korea? Though we might not see love as a result of the world's most powerful military's care and attention, who am I to question the men leading us into WWIII, the great love war?