Y'know...

For as long as I can remember (and I have clear memories from about age 2 on) I was taught that what separated the United States of America from anywhere else was the list of rules that kept "the Government" in check.

There were lines that the State could not cross....in fact, with few exceptions, if a Government official was found to be doing something that crossed the line, like spying on citizens without a warrant or such, those people were tried and jailed and lost their happy pensions and other such punishment.

Then I read "1984" and realized what COULD happen without those checks on our Government and its minions.

Fast forward 30+ years.

We, as a nation, have become what we used to hold up as a bad example. We, as a nation, have let the minions of the State become the rulers. We, as a nation, have become what we detested in other nations and governments. .

That which separated us from the USSR and the Banana republics and the Chinese has blurred...has faded...has, in many cases, disappeared.

We, as a nation, are responsible for the change. We allowed the slow decline. The erosion of freedoms and privacy. Until we as a nation are no longer the shining beacon to which citizens of other nations looked. We are, for all intents and purposes, no better off than they are.

I am disgusted by the power grab that we allowed and are allowing. The erosion of that which made our nation great. The willful ignorance, the acceptance by my fellow citizens as inevitable, the reduction of ourselves...the destruction of what once was....the loss of that which separated this nation from others.

I don't know how to fix it.

Actually, I do, but I don't know how to accomplish it and cannot discuss it on the internet or via Email or telephone with like minded individuals except face to face in an area where no one can overhear.

For the minions of the State are watching.