INDEPENDENCE DAY

INDEPENDENCE DAY?

Dear Friends,

As yet another Independence Day looms, I thought I would take a minute out for a few reflections about how we as a nation arrived at this sorry state.

When did this glorious dream to begin to go awry? Was it with the plethora of alphabet soup agencies created by FDR? Was it with the assination of JFK? Was it earlier in 1913 when the Federal Reserve and IRS were created and the state election of senators was abolished? Or was it even earlier, just after the ink was dry on the US Constitution? Whenever it was, it is now clear that it is long since over. We are no longer the United States of America, but the United States owned by and providing for Goldman Sachs. For a really great article by a real journalist (not the bubble-headed bleach blondes at Fox), Matt Taibbi, click here: http://www.correntewire.com/great_american_bubble_machine_0.

While are country slips over the abyss, those in the mainstream media are blissfully ignorant, pretending that everything is ok and treating us to another round of celebrity pablum surrounding the untimely demise of Michael Jackson. While his death, like those of Farrah Fawcett and others is certainly a loss for those who were most intimately connected, they are not really that important in life. What is important is the erosion of our civil liberties which are now skidding down the mountain like an avalanche.

Just look around - whether you go to the bank, post office or standing on the corner, we are being watched by surveillance cameras. Try to leave the country for a simple vacation and you have to have a passport - Your papers please! (said with heavy German accent). Even preparing to fly is an ordeal - fluids are restricted to 3 ounces and have to be in a clear plastic quart-size bag with a ziplock. The sign of a police state is when people are no longer free to travel. We are not. Cell phones and automobiles come equipped with GPS devices; even when they are turned off, the government can and will still be able to locate you. Our email and phone conversations are not private - they are read by the government. Our Founding Fathers would be mortified to learn that this is what we have become. A nation of slaves, subservient to the government.

But our government is not really a government made up of the politicians we see in the news. Those are just the faces. No, the real power is the shadow government comprised of the nameless faceless men and women who you will never see. Those are the ones who really hold the levers of power, not you.

Want proof? Think the Congress critters actually read the legislation they are asked to vote on? No! They have legislative staffers for that. Bills are written in advance by lobbyists and others. When the time is right, "poof" and the bill is ready to go. The misnamed "Patriot Act" and the recent "Cap and Trade" bill are but a few examples. What about declaring war and coining money? Congress either has farmed out such duties or utterly failed to act. Congress and their hordes of staffers is now utterly superfluous; its the shadow government who really is in control.

I keep coming back to a line from the "Hunt For Confederate Gold" by Thomas Moore. In it, an old FBI agent tells a youthful agent that if he wants to see his career take off, he needs to have a vice by which he can be controlled. The shadow government uses this vice as a mechanism by which to control the aspiring politico - they can raise you up and they can bring you down in a heartbeat.

We have only to look at the recent news regarding Senators John Edwards and John Ensign and Governors Mike Easley and Mark Sanford. When news of their current travails broke, I thought to myself, why now? Easley and Edwards are no longer in office. Easley long ago was reported to be slimey. And so are the others - adultery and corruption in our leaders is nothing new. So why did this not come out before when all the events were happening?

As a character from a fiction novel once said, "if you knew who you'd know why and if you knew why you'd know who." While I do not know who or why, I do know that this came from a person or persons high on the food chain, someone with the power to give the information to and be able to push the buttons to start the mainstream media demonization machine. Those with the power can build you up or tear you down as they wish.

All of this can be very depressing. What is the answer? It would be nice if millions of Americans would wake up and get rid of these elected pawns and stop the greed of the military-industrial complex. But its not going to happen anytime soon. Others who can afford to do so, have done the sensible thing and left the country. But for those of us who cannot afford to leave, what will become of us? The only solution I can think of short of revolution is the third-party option. Breaking out of the sham two-party system is what these elected puppets and their handlers fear most. My candidacy was proof of that. Just have someone like me run and watch the establishment go ballistic and swing into action!

On a more personal note, I have been busy. I filed an appeal in my bar case and that is proceeding. I also am working on an appeal for a fellow attorney, handling various personal legal matters for self and family, am doing contract jobs and am trying to start my own legal practice. I have even had a client or two!

As I am preparing to be out of town for the holiday, take a break from the mindless fireworks, flag-waving and shallow displays of patriotism and think on what it means to be a real patriot. Reflect for a moment on what I and countless others have written. Change the makeup of our leaders, in the executive, legislative and judicial branches and you will change government and end the corruption and greed. It does not have to be this way and it will end when you want it to end. You, my fellow citizens, have the power to change. Make it a reality.

For The Republic

Rachel Lea Hunter