Too Many Take What the Government Says at Face Value

Cognitive Dissonance [Excerpt]

October 10, 2011

Personal Liberty Digest - America’s “War on Terror” has devolved into a perpetual war in which the boundaries are not defined and the enemy is whoever a secret cabal within the Federal government decides.

Totalitarian nations throughout history have made war on their own citizens. The United States is doing the same and has in one degree or another for at least 150 years.

When Barack Hussein Obama stepped up to the podium and announced the successful assassination of two American citizens on Sept. 30 — Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan — it was proof that America had finally died, Paul Craig Roberts writes.

As for Americans, they have been cemented into a state of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously. Totalitarian regimes are successful when their subjects reach that state.

This is not the first time Americans have been murdered by their own government. It became common practice in the 1860s under Abraham Lincoln, a President that Obama claims to emulate.

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In Egypt this summer, protestors began standing up to the oppressive Hosni Mubarak regime. Americans were appalled when the regime violently cracked down on the protestors and the mainstream corporate media played up the carnage. Mubarak was doing what he thought necessary and proper to suppress the rebellion in his country.

But Obama ordered Mubarak out of power. Because Mubarak was a puppet of the U.S., he was forced to step down. Americans cheered that a tyrant was vanquished even though they didn’t know what was to take his place. Our government told us this was a good outcome.

In Libya’s Arab Spring, protestors stood up to the Moammar Gadhafi regime. Gadhafi cracked down on the protestors with violence, if the reports of the mainstream media are to be believed. He was simply doing what he thought necessary and proper to maintain control of his country.

NATO member nations and finally Obama ordered Gadhafi to step down. Gadhafi, not a puppet of the U.S., refused. NATO forces began bombing and killing Libyans to force Gadhafi’s capitulation.

In Syria’s Arab Spring, troops of Bashir al-Assad began killing protestors by the dozens. Al-Assad is doing what he thinks is necessary and proper to maintain control of his country. So far, the Obama Administration is standing idly by, paying only lip service to a protest.

In some cases the majority of Americans accept that it’s okay for the government to do whatever it says is necessary to suppress rebellion. See Abraham Lincoln and Obama’s ordered killing of al-Awlaki.

In other cases — Libya and Egypt, for example — the government is wrong for doing what is necessary to suppress rebellion. Cognitive dissonance.

For the most part, Americans have accepted the non-war NATO intervention in Libya as necessary to stop the killing that Gadhafi started. But stopping the killing requires more killing. More innocents are dead, whether from Gadhafi forces suppressing rebellion or NATO forces bombing Gadhafi forces. Cognitive dissonance.

We are fighting a war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen. Our government tells us the enemy is al-Qaida. Yet, in supporting the rebellion in Libya, U.S. and NATO gave power and aid and comfort to a rebellion that is made up of al-Qaida terrorists that have fought against and killed U.S. soldiers on other battlefields. Cognitive dissonance.

George W. Bush suspended habeas corpus. The USA Patriot Act, passed within days of 9/11 and subsequently renewed under Obama, gives the government carte blanch to spy on Americans. Government snoops can now rifle through bank records, eavesdrop on communications and can even enter the homes of Americans without warrants. Militarized police SWAT teams are knocking down doors and shooting people in their homes — whether they are armed or not. The Federal Reserve is monitoring online communications for signs of dissent.

Americans know in their hearts that something about this is not right. Yet they say to themselves, “I haven’t done anything wrong. I have nothing to fear from my government.”

But in a distant land, two American citizens criticized the actions of our government and told Muslims to oppose it. Our government tells us this is so. Our government tells us that al-Awlaki promoted jihad and the killing of Americans. Our government tells us that al-Awlaki spurred the underwear bomber to try and blow up a jet liner over America.

But the underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was assisted onto the plane without proper identification by a CIA asset, as we told you here.

Our government tells us that al-Awlaki spurred Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major, to kill American soldiers at Ft. Hood. Our government tells us that al-Awlaki was the inspiration for Faisal Shahzad to attempt to car bomb Times Square.

Our government tells us these things but withholds the evidence. Too many take what the government says at face value.

• Our government told us the Civil War was about freeing the slaves.
• Our government told us a central bank would stabilize the economy.
• Our government told us that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
• Our government told us U.S. gunboats were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• Our government told us we were winning the war in Vietnam.
  
• Our government told us that Randy Weaver was a criminal.
• Our government told us that David Koresh was abusing children.
• Our government told us that it didn’t fail us on 9/11.
• Our government told us that 9/11 was masterminded from a cave in a third-world country.
• Our government told us the economy was fine.
• Our government told us a bailout would save the economy.
• Our government told us that Pakistan was our friend in the war on terror. Our government told us we are not fighting a war in Libya.
• Our government told us that al-Awlaki deserved to die without due process.

Our government tells us that the FBI is looking out for us, finding home-grown jihadists and stopping them in their tracks. It does not tell us what the FBI does to encourage, equip and enable those potential jihadists to do something they might have thought about doing, but might not have actually done without the persuasion of their FBI enablers.

Our government tells us we must give up our 4th Amendment rights in order to travel on airplanes and trains.

Our government tells us — through the Department of Homeland Security — that Tea Party members, 2nd Amendment supporters, people with Ron Paul bumper stickers, people who waive Gadsden flags, people who oppose the Federal Reserve, and former military members are potential domestic terrorists. Our government tells us that anti-government thoughts equate to a crime.

What will the government tell us when it decides that it is no longer convenient to have some of these people around? Are we a nation of laws? Or are we a nation in which the government — or a secret cabal — can just decide to murder whomever it wishes?

The U.S. Constitution is only a piece of paper.

Our government, by its actions, has told us this is so.