Are You Free?
We are constantly reminded by politicians that “we live in a free country”, or as GWB says:
“They hate us for our freedoms.”
“Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward.“

“Freedom will be defended.”
“I believe that a free Iraq is in this nation’s interests. I believe a free Afghanistan is in this nation’s interest.”
“I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free.“
“Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.”
“The wisest use of American strength is to advance freedom.“

As 2009 approaches we find ourselves in the waning years of a grand experiment of the Shadow Powers. Decades ago they asked themselves, “Which is the better way to control a population?”

Option 1: Direct Force (the Soviet method of centralized control, closed borders, quotas and socialism) or

Option 2: Coercion (the United States’ method of shaping the desires of the populace through rampant marketing, education control, greed, and sufficient entertainment (TV, movies, sports) to distract the masses from creeping socialism and slavery. Oh, and don’t forget the occasional injection of fear. It keeps the masses shouting for the chance to exchange a little more libertty for (supposed) security.

We know how well option 1 worked by Dec 1991 with the ending of the USSR after 69 years. So far, option 2 seems to be working well enough for the Shadow Powers. “No slave is more oppressed than one who thinks he’s free.”

US Fails Bush’s Litmus Test for Freedom
They say you’re free, but are you? On Oct. 3, 2003 Bush answered the question (if you have the ears to hear):

“Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.” GWB

Does the US have weapons of mass destruction?
The US has 5,043 active nuclear weapons with around 5,000 inactive weapons. More than all other nations put together. [link] The US also has a full complement of chemical and biological weapons as well. (Remember the NY Antrax Attacks after 9/11? It was the US weaponized anthrax used.)

Does the US attack other countries?
On Sept. 20, 2002 the Bush Doctrine declared “the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a potential or perceived threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate; a policy of spreading democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating terrorism; and a willingness to pursue U.S. military interests in a unilateral way.”

In just the last decade the US has attacked these countries without direct provocation, or attempted to depose their leader [link and link]:

Aug 1998: Afghanistan
Aug 1998: Sudan Operation Infinite Reach
Dec 1998: Iraq Operation Desert Fox
Oct 2001: Afghanistan Operation Enduring Freedom
Apr 2002: Venezuela CIA Op

Mar 2003: Iraq Operation Iraqi Freedom
2004: Georgia, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Eritrea War on Terror
2006-08: Pakistan War on Terror
Jan 2007: Somalia War on Terror

For a list of all the regimes changed by the US Gov’t since the first (1911 Nicaragua) see Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change. From the book: “No nation in modern history has done this so often, in so many places so far from its own shores.”

The “why” is answered in the revealing book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. (It amounts to corporate greed working in tandem with the US Gov’t. You didn’t really think it was an accident that VP Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton and Sec State Condi Rice had an oil tanker named after her? [photo])

Is the US a peaceful nation?

This is a judgement call. IMO, the people of the US are, like most around the world, peaceful by nature. It is their government that wants war, and will lie to get it.
- Think of FDR’s sacrifice of Pearl Harbor as our entry into WWII. [video]

- Think of LBJ’s fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident as our entry into the Viet Nam War.
- Think of GWB’s falsified WMD evidence as our entry into the Iraq War.

According to Bush’s above litmus test for freedom, we ain’t. Sure, it’s not what he meant, not really. Right?

What about elections?
Don’t even get me started on election fraud in the US. In the words of one of last century’s foremost dictators, “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” Josef Stalin

But, at least, we have freedom to choose, don’t we? Do we? When was the presidential election that you DIDN’T feel like you were voting for the “lesser of two evils”? (Which, of course, is still a vote for evil.)

Who chooses the two candidates from whom you will choose? Who engineers the amazing comebacks (GWB), the sudden shocking revelations (Gary Hart), the opportune video moments (Howard Dean), the mainstream ridicule and poll manipulation (Ron Paul)?

Remember FDR’s words: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”

When the Shadow Powers determine the choices available to us they control us. Sure it’s subtle. You bet it’s effective. And we all think we’re free.

I say, “Liberty is not a multiple-choice test. It is an essay.”

We Haven’t Lost-Yet