Part 2 has been a little long in the making but as it turns out the delay has been useful for the purpose of this article as things are changing rapidly. In Part 1 we briefly examined martial law and dug in to some notable Presidential Executive Orders. Part 2 looks at a police state in contrast to martial law.
Police State
Turning once again to Merriam-Webster, police state is defined as
a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures.
The U.S. may, or may not, currently be under a police state based on your interpretation of this definition in light of the current state of events. Without question we do have an increasingly repressive government that is illegally assuming more control with each week that passes. We can clearly see the slow advance of that control with each new law passed and Executive Order issued.
Who’s Driving This Car?
The Constitution does not specifically give the authority for Executive Orders (EO). Yet all Presidents have issued them. The President, according to Article II Section 3 of the Constitution
“shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”.
Likewise Article I Section 1 of the Constitution grants that
“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”.
Yet EOs have clearly morphed into a means of the President establishing laws on a whim. This is illegal and Congress needs to stop allowing it.
Congress can pass laws to counteract an EO if they could all agree to do so, yet laws sent through Congress typically become a very long and painstaking ordeal. Therein lies the main problem with EOs. A single man in the Presidency can act impulsively and immediately issue an EO that takes Congress months or years to rescind. The damage can be done quickly and reversal is very slow. In light of this it may be time to amend the Constitution to specifically limit the scope and impact of EOs.
We looked closely at a few select EOs in Part 1 that reveal a slow dismantling of U.S. Constitution and the rights and freedom of it’s citizens. I haven’t searched EOs back beyond Harry Truman simply because the volume of reading is far too expansive which would prevent finishing this article for quite some time.
In addition to Presidential Executive Orders, there remains an avalanche of laws passed by Congress over the years and further examination of them reveals a great deal about the state this country is in today. Chief among them being the so-called “Patriot Act”[1], and preceding it is the “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act”[2], which continues to be amended as required to extend the government’s reach in to the depths of Constitutional freedoms. In fact when a President doesn’t care for the amendments Congress makes to FISA they will amend it further via EOs (32387, 43324, 50961, 77779, 84527, 88355).
Many others have already argued the constitutionality of these acts and so it serves no purpose to repeat it here. The bottom line with these laws and Presidential edicts is that a U.S. citizens’ 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure is being removed, without the consent of the governed. A citizen can be declared an enemy or threat by any agency and the door is opened wide for warrantless surveillance. Without the accusation a warrant must still be obtained by the FISA court, which by all accounts is rarely if ever denied.
These developments and more paint a clear picture of one element of a police state, “repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life”.
Secret Police
What about element 2, “regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures”? Look no further than the FBI and the NSA, both of which perform various national police or surveillance operations. Both have had their scope of operation expanded greatly via FISA, the Patriot Act and various EOs.
For a tiny glimpse into this expansion take a look at testimony delivered in 2005 to a Senate Select Committee by Attorney General Gonzales and FBI Director Mueller. After perusing that, look at the FBI’s page of Testimonies. What aren’t they touching?
Next, just for kicks, go to the NSA’s page of Speeches & Testimonies. You can search for all sorts of things and see what they publicly release regarding terms such as “electronic surveillance”, “Edward Snowden”, “PRISM” and more. Interestingly they even provide information on how to file a Freedom of Information Act request.
Of course we know from countless leaks that there’s undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of actions that are hidden from public view by these 2 agencies alone.
It’s old news now but we finally found out the NSA has been collecting our email since right after 9-11 and in to 2011[3]. We also know the FISA court ruled it to have been illegal[4]. What was the result of this discovery? Are the American people protesting and demanding the NSA be shut down? Or that everyone involved be imprisoned? No.
Even older news is the illegal phone call monitoring by the NSA[5][6]. Not only have they monitored calls in the U.S. but listened in on the calls of world leaders[7].
Do NOT dismiss these facts. This is NOT conspiracy theory. This is NOT rumor or innuendo. These are facts. What the NSA has done violates our protection from government intrusion as mandated in the Constitution! While it remains in place, the U.S. Constitution is the final and SUPREME law of the land. No law by Congress, edict from a tyrannical President, or any other authority can override the Constitution. The Constitution was established to protect us from a tyrannical government.
There is enough evidence of pure illegal activity to not only put many in prison, but to also dismantle the NSA. The more pressing question is what are they doing now that we don’t yet know about?
What we have in the U.S. is a secret police spread out in various agencies that have been gradually created and empowered over the years. Much like the old communist Russia KGB, American’s are now being monitored continually. There are camera’s appearing at every parking lot and traffic light all over the country. It’s said to be for public safety and security, yet how often do shots from these cameras appear on the news? Everything we do is being recorded. There are even rumors the new digital televisions are watching us. Why? Is the government so afraid of us they cannot take their eyes off of us?
As of this writing the U.S. Senate has allowed the House approved bill to renew the NSA domestic surveillance program of The Patriot Act to expire.[8] What this means for the moment is legally the NSA can no longer collect U.S. citizens’ phone records and it also ends the roving wiretap options as well. Was it increasing public pressure to put an end to the spying that caused this expiration? Or is it a means to gain political favor with a crucial election approaching? Will the expired spying provisions be obeyed or ignored, and is there really any way to know? With the spy technology not only in place but having been used for many years now, do we have a reasonable expectation they will just stop gathering this info? Shall we trust the NSA is more above board than the IRS, or any other government agency for that matter? The simple answer is sadly, no.
More recent ‘good’ news is that public outcry has temporarily put a halt to the FEC wanting to restrict political commentary on the Internet.[9] It’s good news for the moment, yet we must not be lulled into a false sense of security.
The design for a police state in the U.S. has been decades in the making and we can be certain they won’t stop, but rather wait until we aren’t paying attention again.
Local Police
Over the last several years there has been a growing and disturbing trend across the U.S. of local police either not being able to control an ‘uprising’ or being accused of corruption. We’ve seen police lose control of a riotous situation in decades past. Think of the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict, Kent State, or the 1968 democratic national convention in Chicago. Each was a one time situation that ended and didn’t spawn spin-off demonstrations, nor were they followed soon after by seemingly unrelated riots. Likewise police departments have also been found rife with corruption through the years with Chicago being a very good example. Yet, what we’re seeing over the past year or two is different. It’s happening with greater frequency and the mass unrest is always coupled with accusations of police corruption. Coincidence?
On Sept. 11, 2001 the local police and fire departments were shown to be responsive and in control during chaos. This was and is a clear reflection on the vast majority of these local agencies around the country. While the terrorist scare tactic of 9-11 allowed the U.S. government to begin to strip away Constitutional freedom under the guise of national security, the resulting boost of confidence in local authorities was an unintended set back for the plan. The plan? More on that in a future article.
Since 9-11 there has been a growing succession of events across the country that have served one single purpose; destroy the confidence of the American people in their local police. There has been the ‘occupy’ movement[10][11], Ferguson Missouri[12], protests in Baltimore[13], and the recent pool party debacle in McKinney, TX[14] to name a few. In each instance local police were taxed to the point of breaking in their effort to restore peace. In most instances these local police departments were also falsely accused of corruption or racism.[15][16][17][18] It is usually not until the anger and attention has waned that reports start to emerge in some instances indicating these events were in fact staged.[19][20]
Yet, In spite of this seemingly planned disparagement, the U.S. government has been arming local police departments with armored vehicles for several years now.[21][22][23][24] The obvious question here is why build them up with hardware only to destroy them in the eyes of the public?
Rebirth of Racism
This may seem like an unrelated topic to a discussion on the construction of a police state, but it’s very much a part of the plan. Racism has, and always will, be part of any civilization. In the 1990s the U.S. prospered under an all time low in race based disturbances. It was undoubtedly still there, but had dwindled into a minor issue in this country. That can be seen in how on Sept. 11, 2001 the entire country came together as whole and supported one another. This cohesiveness is dangerous to a government with designs on heavy handed control via a police state.
On June 16, 1858 Abraham Lincoln stated
A house divided against itself cannot stand.”[25]
He was of course addressing the Republican State Convention regarding the division in the country over slavery. He was also quoting Scripture where in Matthew 12:25 Jesus told his Disciples
Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.”[26]
Time and history has proven this truth that applies in all circumstances. This is in fact a time worn military tactic. It works. Split a united group in two or more factions and they are no longer a large united force and easy to conquer.
We’ve discussed how every incident of social unrest in the past few years concludes with outcries of racism. In a move that is FAR beneath the dignity of the office, President Obama often chimes in, even though his race is only half black. The figurehead of the U.S. government along with his wife are fueling the race debate.[27][28][29][30][31] Why? Divide and conquer.
President Obama began his first run for President with a strong stance against gay marriage but in 2012 he suddenly not only changed his position but has since become a strong gay marriage supporter.[32][33] His change in position somehow coincides with a sudden upsurge of GLBT groups protesting and demanding legalization of gay marriage. Why? Divide and conquer.
The current state of mass illegal immigration from Mexico is something we’ve all been exposed to. Why would this government intentionally ignore the laws of the land and not only allow this to continue but to also promote it? Divide and conquer. How? By diluting the population and granting immunity (illegally I might add) suddenly the percentage of people opposed to runaway government control and regulation is greatly reduced.
The U.S. is quickly becoming a fractured society. Social hot button topics that were either slowly disappearing or not much of an issue are now being inflamed purely for the purpose of turning us against one another. Divide and conquer. Keep the population distracted and enraged and few will notice what is truly happening right before their eyes. When people are fractured and no longer able to set aside their social differences they are no longer capable of standing together as a unified foe against tyrannical government. Our silly infighting prevents us from being strong.
Conclusion
Does there need to be an official declaration of martial law for it to be in place? In a representative republic with a Constitution that restricts the governments’ actions, such as the United States, it would need to be declared if for no other reason than to officially suspend the current form of government.
Martial law is a military action which usurps an established governmental system and the U.S. is not presently under martial law. There have been no Proclamations nor Executive Orders specifically establishing martial law. Civilians accused of crimes are still processed through the U.S. judicial system and not before a courts-martial. Congress, feckless as it is, still is in operation. Police departments still function and have not been replaced by the army. In spite of it’s appearance, calling out the National Guard to quell an angry mob is not martial law because the government is still in operation.
Martial law is a very dramatic buzz word that’s gets attention quickly because it strikes fear in the heart of everyone. It’s overused and misused. Yes, usurpation of power is taking place, but we must not become reactionary or emotionally hysterical and jump to hasty, dramatic conclusions because of it. Without an un-staged, riotous, nation wide civil breakdown which the police and national guard can’t contain, declaring martial law serves no real purpose to those in power.
Martial law doesn’t accomplish anything more than what is already slowly taking place. As more control is slowly enacted, few people realize it. Fewer still seem to care. Business continues. Taxes are paid. Technology continues to grow. These are all things the government depends on. What benefit is there in plunging the country into the abyss or martial law? That single action would instantly wake up millions who have been happily distracted or had their heads in the sand. The lovers of government would turn against it. Productivity would plunge as those who were once happy to contribute to the ongoing advancement of government and society are now angry, have become stubborn, and refuse to work or give of their talents. It would prompt open rebellion and guerrilla warfare. This is not the best way to control people and maintain the illusion that your government loves you, you must love it in return.
We are also not currently living in a police state. However I do believe we’re getting closer every day to this particular reality.
Consider the following:
- A litany of Executive Orders and Laws gradually destroying Constitutionally protected personal freedoms and rights in lieu of federal government control
- An increasing loss of privacy to federal governmental monitoring
- Attempts by federal government agencies to suppress opinions and open discussion contrary to government policies
- The increase in social unrest and division engineered by the federal government
- Growing attacks on local police departments by the media and the federal government
- The reallocation of weapons of war from national defense to local police forces
- The stockpiling of ammunition by all agencies of the federal government[34][35]
What does all of this point towards?
After carefully weighing a great deal of information from many different sources, I’ve reached the conclusion that we are now witnessing the final steps of what is a slow and calculated metamorphosis from a Constitution based republic to a police state in the vein of the 1960 era USSR.
I believe the federal government is preparing for war. War against it’s citizenry. Hence the build up of military style weapons and ammunition in police departments throughout the U.S.. The increasing attacks against local police are designed to convince the American public that there’s too much corruption, racism and unequal treatment by police across the country. So in the best interest of everyone, your federal government, who loves you, will need to assume control of all police functions to insure equal and unbiased treatment for everyone. The constant surveillance for over 10 years has revealed where the areas of greatest resistance will be to this edict. When this is announced the military hardware will have already been deployed so it will be a simple and quick matter to send in the manpower to enact the new and official police state. The general population, having been fiercely divided after years of foolishly taking the bait on social hot button issues, will not be able to unite quick enough to respond in strength. The flurry of anticipated lawsuits contesting the constitutionality of this action will quickly be dismissed under the weight of the laws and executive orders that have slowly chipped away at the Constitutional provisions designed to prevent this.
Why would this plan be implemented? To what end?
Those in power retain their power. That of course is the primary reason. Secondary to that I can see one of two reasons.
I believe the more likely of the two is to have a strong militaristic police force in place for the coming economic collapse, so as to preserve the ruling elites’ power and control. This planned economic collapse has been in the making since the slow erosion of Constitutional rights began. They have progressed along side each other in a way as to remove any question of it not having been a coincidence. This impending economic collapse will have a world wide impact and is a very immediate concern that requires it’s own examination, which must be at a later date.
The less likely of the two is simply to eradicate the United States as a republic. In this case I would expect soon after the police state is established a new constitution to be revealed, or perhaps none at all but rather a new form of government. At which point the great experiment known as the United States of America would come to an end. There would be no need for a military coup and martial law. The coup has been happening right before our eyes over the past 100 years or more. Actually a military coup against the present tyranny and subsequent martial law until a new government can be instituted would be the only thing that could stop the final act in this scenario. But again, I think this is the less likely of the two.
In either case, a police state is coming to a corner near you. Count on it.
Sources for "Martial Law -or- Police State Pt. 2"
- “USA Patriot Act“
- “F.I.S.A.“
- “NSA collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under Obama” at The Guardian
- “NSA Email Collection Violated 4th Amendment: FISA Court” at FindLaw.com
- “NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls” at USA Today
- “Everything you need to know about the NSA’s phone records scandal” at The Washington Post
- “NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts” at The Guardian
- “NSA Domestic Surveillance Program Expires After Senate Fails to Reach Deal” at ABC News
- “FEC backs off flirtation with regulating Internet” at FOX News
- “Occupy Wall Street Gets More Violent” at The Daily Signal
- “Occupy Oakland: 400 arrested after violent protest” at NBC News
- “National Guard sent in as Missouri police lose control of streets” at The Times
- “Baltimore riots: Looting, fires engulf city after Freddie Gray’s funeral” at CNN
- “Jarring Image of Police’s Use of Force at Texas Pool Party” at The New York Times
- “Justice Department to Fault Ferguson Police, Seeing Racial Bias in Traffic Stops” at The New York Times
- “Baltimore Mayor Calls for Federal Investigation into Police” at Newsmax
- “Mark Levin discusses the false race charges in McKinney, TX“
- “McKinney Homeowners Subjected to Pool Party Ruckus Defend and Thank Cops” at Breitbart
- “Top Occupy organizer trained Ferguson protesters” at WND
- “Baltimore Mayor Gave Permission to Riot” at The Daily Beast
- “Californians outraged after police acquire military armored vehicle to patrol city” at RT
- “Should Local Police Get The Military’s Extra Armored Trucks?” at NPR
- “War Gear Flows to Police Departments” at The New York Times
- “Leftover armored trucks from Iraq coming to local police agencies” at Daily News
- “House Divided Speech” at Abraham Lincoln Online
- “Matthew 12:25” at Bible Gateway
- “Obama’s remarks on race, Trayvon Martin” at CBS News
- “Obama Criticizes Police in Henry Louis Gates Case” at ABC News
- “Obama in Selma: Ferguson report shows civil rights ‘march is not yet finished’” at The Guardian
- “The Obamas: How We Deal with Our Own Racist Experiences” at People Magazine
- “Race War in Obama’s America” by Allen West
- “President Barack Obama’s shifting stance on gay marriage” at PolitiFact
- “White House blames white male resentment for Obama failures on guns, race” at Washington Examiner
- “Feds buying 100 years worth of ammo” at WND
- “1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It’s Time For A National Conversation” at Forbes
- “Merriam-Webster Dictionary“
- “U.S. Constitution Online“
- “Presidential Executive Orders” at The American Presidency Project
- “FBI Testimony • USA Patriot Act Amendments to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Authorities“
- “NSA Speeches & Testimonies“
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