Chilling Dissent in the Name of Democracy

In these times of seemingly perpetual U.S. wars abroad, increasing home foreclosures, no single payer universal health care, corporate hegemony, homelessness, joblessness, and growing anger and despair; it should come as no surprise that political repression is also in full swing here at home. There is however, a positive side to this gloomy scenario.

No government can fool its people forever or perpetually rule with an iron fist, even if it is a velvet gloved one, without ultimately incurring the ire of those being ruled. The serious and relatively recent shredding of the U.S. Constitution, and most particularly those enshrined legal rights and protections contained therein, began in earnest under the Bush / Cheney regime and has been extended and broadened by the Obama / Biden regime especially as it relates to the unconstitutional so-called ‘Patriot Act’ and the U.S. Government’s hideous program of international kidnapping, torture, and murder known as ‘Extraordinary Rendition.’

Oftentimes, consciousness is forced upon people by biting, hard, cold reality. Sooner or later, the political and social novacane begins to wear off as the veneer of democracy itself peels away. This is precisely the historical juncture at which everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people find ourselves in this latter part of the year 2010.

The more the veneer of democracy peels away, the more desperate and ruthless become the tactics of the government and its many police and investigative agencies against everyday people. This increased political repression is an important sign-post of our times and should be regarded as such.

Though the legitimately disappointed masses are callously and arrogantly referred to as nothing more than “whiners” by the Obama / Biden regime, the fact is that hard, cold reality has begun to set in; and accountability is required and being increasingly demanded by everyday people in this nation.

Enter the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and other government police agencies of repression nationwide. Legitimate and much-needed political dissent is now billed as “terrorism” or even treason. Intimidation and subterfuge have become the mainstays of the so-called ‘American’ democracy. The chilling of political dissent has become the very watch word of a government and system whose body politic is rotten to the core. The government is now gearing full throttle in a war of terrorism and intimidation against its own people who it has labeled as “whiners” and malcontents. And the corporate-stream media has become a very sick joke as it plays its constant insidious role as a rubber stamp of misinformation, disinformation, omission, mediocrity and non-substance. At all costs legitimate political dissent in opposition to this government’s internal and external polices must be chilled and neutralized. Sadly, this is the United States of America today.

The irony of all of this is that the more political repression is intensified at home, the more people are compelled to see that the emperor and the empire ‘has no clothes.’ Just as the more deadly U.S. drone missiles are rained down abroad coupled with the horrors of ‘Extraordinary Rendition’, etc., the more so-called terrorism is in fact enhanced and facilitated in this endless spiral of insanity and death. The only ones who actually benefit from this manipulated insanity are the small elite of the corporate / military complex, while the masses of everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people are politically and economically emaciated.

However, this is not the conclusion of the scenario, because we must remember that the people’s struggle for justice and human rights is, by its very nature, a long and protracted one. It is not an overnight affair or some simplistic Hollywood production. It calls for commitment and endurance. It also calls for organizing, organizing, and more organizing.

The “dream” of justice of which the late poet Langston Hughes wrote, will not be forever “deferred.” But it will take everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people to make that dream a reality. And this means work!

So “whine” on you ‘progressives’ and leftists, whine on!! And while you “whine” be sure to organize for real systemic change and a better day!!! We must not be chilled, and “we will not be moved!”

Onward then my sisters and brothers. Onward!