<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt concentration camps were a means, a menace used to keep order.\u201d\u2014Albert Speer, Nuremberg Trials<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u2019s no longer a question of\u00a0whether<\/em>\u00a0the government will lock up Americans for defying its mandates but\u00a0when<\/em>.<\/p>\n
This is what we know:\u00a0the government has the means<\/a>, the muscle and the motivation to detain individuals who resist its orders and do not comply with its mandates in a vast array of prisons, detention centers, and FEMA concentration camps paid for with taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just a matter of time.<\/p>\n
It no longer matters what the hot-button issue might be (vaccine mandates, immigration, gun rights, abortion, same-sex marriage, healthcare, criticizing the government, protesting election results, etc.) or which party is wielding its power like a hammer.<\/p>\n
The groundwork has already been laid.<\/p>\n
Under the indefinite detention provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the President and the military can detain and imprison American citizens with no access to friends, family or the courts if the government believes them to be a terrorist.<\/p>\n
So it should come as no surprise that merely criticizing the government or\u00a0objecting to a COVID-19 vaccine<\/a>\u00a0could get you labeled as a terrorist.<\/p>\n
After all, it doesn\u2019t take much to be considered a terrorist anymore, especially given that the government likes to use the words \u201canti-government,\u201d \u201cextremist\u201d and \u201cterrorist\u201d\u00a0interchangeably<\/a>.<\/p>\n
For instance, the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0broadly defines<\/a>\u00a0extremists as individuals, military veterans and groups \u201cthat are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may also be characterized as extremists and potential domestic terrorist threats by the government because they may be \u201cdisgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, if you believe in and exercise your rights under the Constitution (namely, your right to speak freely, worship freely, associate with like-minded individuals who share your political views, criticize the government, own a weapon, demand a warrant before being questioned or searched, or any other activity viewed as potentially anti-government, racist, bigoted, anarchic or sovereign), you could be\u00a0at the top of the government\u2019s terrorism watch list<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Moreover, as a\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0editorial warns, you may be an anti-government extremist (a.k.a.\u00a0domestic terrorist<\/a>) in the eyes of the police if you are afraid that the\u00a0government is plotting to confiscate your firearms<\/a>, if you believe the\u00a0economy is about to collapse<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0government will soon declare martial law<\/a>, or if you display an unusual number of\u00a0political and\/or ideological bumper stickers<\/a>\u00a0on your car.<\/p>\n
According to the FBI, you might also be classified as a domestic terrorism threat if you\u00a0espouse conspiracy theories<\/a>\u00a0or dare to subscribe to\u00a0any views that are contrary to the government\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The government also has a growing list\u2014shared with fusion centers and law enforcement agencies\u2014of ideologies, behaviors, affiliations and other characteristics that could flag someone as suspicious and result in their being labeled\u00a0potential<\/em>\u00a0enemies of the state.<\/p>\n
This is what happens when you not only put the power to determine who is a\u00a0potential<\/em>\u00a0danger in the hands of government agencies, the courts and the police but also give those agencies liberal authority to lock individuals up for perceived wrongs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a system just begging to be abused by power-hungry bureaucrats desperate to retain their power at all costs.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s happened before.<\/p>\n
As history shows, the U.S. government is not averse to locking up its own citizens for its own purposes.<\/p>\n
One need only go back to the 1940s, when the federal government proclaimed that Japanese-Americans, labeled potential dissidents, could be put in concentration (a.k.a. internment) camps based only upon their ethnic origin, to see the lengths the federal government will go to in order to maintain \u201corder\u201d in the homeland.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Supreme Court validated the detention program in\u00a0Korematsu v. US<\/em>\u00a0(1944), concluding that the government\u2019s need to ensure the safety of the country trumped personal liberties.<\/p>\n
Although that\u00a0Korematsu\u00a0<\/em>decision was\u00a0never formally overturned<\/a>, Chief Justice Roberts opined in\u00a0Trump v. Hawaii<\/em>\u00a0(2018) that \u201cthe forcible relocation of U. S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is\u00a0objectively unlawful and outside the scope of Presidential authority<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts\u2019 statements provide little assurance of safety in light of the government\u2019s tendency to sidestep the rule of law when it suits its purposes. Pointing out that\u00a0such blatantly illegal detentions could happen again<\/a>\u2014with the blessing of the courts\u2014Justice Scalia once warned, \u201cIn times of war, the laws fall silent.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, the creation of detention camps domestically has long been part of the government\u2019s budget and operations, falling under the jurisdiction of FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n
FEMA\u2019s murky history dates back to the 1970s, when President Carter created it by way of an executive order merging many of the government\u2019s disaster relief agencies into one large agency.<\/p>\n
During the 1980s, however, reports began to surface of secret military-type training exercises carried out by FEMA and the Department of Defense. Code named Rex-84, 34 federal agencies, including the CIA and the Secret Service, were trained on how to deal with domestic civil unrest.<\/p>\n
FEMA\u2019s role in creating top-secret American internment camps is well-documented.<\/p>\n
But be careful who you share this information with: it turns out that voicing concerns about the existence of FEMA detention camps is among the growing list of opinions and activities which may make a federal agent or government official think you\u2019re an extremist (a.k.a. terrorist), or sympathetic to terrorist activities, and thus qualify you for indefinite detention under the NDAA. Also included in that list of \u201cdangerous\u201d viewpoints are advocating states\u2019 rights, believing the state to be unnecessary or undesirable, \u201cconspiracy theorizing,\u201d concern about alleged FEMA camps, opposition to war, organizing for \u201ceconomic justice,\u201d frustration with \u201cmainstream ideologies,\u201d opposition to abortion, opposition to globalization, and ammunition stockpiling.<\/p>\n
Now if you\u2019re going to have internment camps on American soil, someone has to build them.<\/p>\n
Thus, in 2006, it was announced that Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, had been awarded a $385 million contract to build American detention facilities. Although the government and Halliburton were not forthcoming about where or when these domestic detention centers would be built, they rationalized the need for them in case of \u201can emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs\u201d in the event of other emergencies such as \u201cnatural disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, these detention camps will have to be used for anyone viewed as a threat to the government, and that includes political dissidents.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s no coincidence that the U.S. government has, since the 1980s, acquired and maintained, without warrant or court order, a database of names and information on Americans considered to be threats to the nation.<\/p>\n
As\u00a0Salon<\/em>\u00a0reports, this database,\u00a0reportedly dubbed \u201cMain Core,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0is to be used by the Army and FEMA in times of national emergency or under martial law to locate and round up Americans seen as threats to national security. There are at least 8 million Americans in the Main Core database.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2009, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released two reports, one on \u201cRightwing Extremism<\/a>,\u201d which broadly defines rightwing extremists as individuals and groups \u201cthat are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely,\u201d and one on \u201cLeftwing Extremism<\/a>,\u201d which labeled environmental and animal rights activist groups as extremists.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, both reports use the words terrorist and extremist interchangeably.<\/p>\n
That same year, the DHS launched\u00a0Operation Vigilant Eagle<\/a>, which calls for surveillance of military veterans returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other far-flung places, characterizing them as extremists and potential domestic terrorist threats because they may be \u201cdisgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war.\u201d<\/p>\n
These reports indicate that for the government, so-called extremism is not a partisan matter. Anyone seen as opposing the government\u2014whether they\u2019re Left, Right or somewhere in between\u2014is a target, which brings us back, full circle, to the question of whether the government will exercise the power it claims to possess to detain anyone perceived as a threat, i.e., anyone critical of the government.<\/p>\n
The short answer is: yes.<\/p>\n
The longer answer is more complicated.<\/p>\n
Despite what some may think, the Constitution is no magical incantation against government wrongdoing. Indeed, it\u2019s only as effective as those who abide by it.<\/p>\n
However, without courts willing to uphold the Constitution\u2019s provisions when government officials disregard it and a citizenry knowledgeable enough to be outraged when those provisions are undermined, it provides little to no protection against SWAT team raids, domestic surveillance, police shootings of unarmed citizens, indefinite detentions, and the like.<\/p>\n
Frankly, the courts and the police have meshed in their thinking to such an extent that anything goes when it\u2019s done in the name of national security, crime fighting and terrorism.<\/p>\n
Consequently, America no longer operates under a system of justice characterized by due process, an assumption of innocence, probable cause and clear prohibitions on government overreach and police abuse. Instead, our courts of justice have been transformed into courts of order, advocating for the government\u2019s interests, rather than championing the rights of the citizenry, as enshrined in the Constitution.<\/p>\n
We seem to be coming full circle on many fronts.<\/p>\n
Consider that two decades ago we were debating whether non-citizens\u2014for example, so-called enemy combatants being held at Guantanamo Bay and Muslim-Americans rounded up in the wake of 9\/11\u2014were entitled to protections under the Constitution, specifically as they relate to indefinite detention. Americans weren\u2019t overly concerned about the rights of non-citizens then, and now we\u2019re the ones in the unenviable position of being targeted for indefinite detention by our own government.<\/p>\n
Similarly, most Americans weren\u2019t unduly concerned when the U.S. Supreme Court gave Arizona police officers the green light to stop, search and question anyone\u2014ostensibly those fitting a particular racial profile\u2014they suspect might be an illegal immigrant. A decade later, the cops largely have carte blanche authority to stop any individual, citizen and non-citizen alike, they suspect might be doing something illegal (mind you, in this age of overcriminalization, that could be anything from feeding the birds to growing exotic orchids).<\/p>\n
Likewise, you still have a sizeable portion of the population today unconcerned about the government\u2019s practice of spying on Americans, having been brainwashed into believing that if you\u2019re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n
It will only be a matter of time before they learn the hard way that in a police state, it doesn\u2019t matter who you are or how righteous you claim to be, because eventually, you will be lumped in with everyone else and everything you do will be \u201cwrong\u201d and suspect.<\/p>\n
Indeed, it\u2019s happening already, with\u00a0police relying on surveillance software such as ShadowDragon<\/a>\u00a0to watch people\u2019s social media and other website activity, whether or not they suspected of a crime, and potentially use it against them when the need arises.<\/p>\n
It turns out that\u00a0we<\/em>\u00a0are Soylent Green, being cannibalized by a government greedily looking to squeeze every last drop out of us.<\/p>\n
The 1973 film\u00a0Soylent Green<\/em>, starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, is set in 2022 in an overpopulated, polluted, starving New York City whose inhabitants depend on synthetic foods manufactured by the Soylent Corporation for survival.<\/p>\n
Heston plays a policeman investigating a murder who discovers the grisly truth about the primary ingredient in the wafer, Soylent Green, which is the principal source of nourishment for a starved population. \u201cIt\u2019s people. Soylent Green is made out of people,\u201d declares Heston\u2019s character. \u201cThey\u2019re making our food out of people. Next thing they\u2019ll be breeding us like cattle for food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, how right he was.<\/p>\n
Soylent Green is indeed people or, in our case, Soylent Green is our own personal data, repossessed, repackaged and used by corporations and the government to entrap us in prisons of our own making.<\/p>\n
Without constitutional protections in place to guard against encroachments on our rights when power, technology and militaristic governance converge, it won\u2019t be long before we find ourselves, much like Edward G. Robinson\u2019s character in\u00a0Soylent Green<\/em>, looking back on the past with longing, back to an age where we could speak to whom we wanted, buy what we wanted, think what we wanted, and go where we wanted without those thoughts, words and movements being tracked, processed and stored by corporate giants such as Google, sold to government agencies such as the NSA and CIA, and used against us by militarized police with their army of futuristic technologies.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not quite there yet, but as I make clear in my book\u00a0Battlefield America: The War on the American People<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and in its fictional counterpart\u00a0The Erik Blair Diaries<\/em><\/a>, that moment of reckoning is getting closer by the minute.<\/p>\n
WC: 2148<\/p>\n