Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Militarization of American Police – and Shredding of Our Constitutional Rights

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Militarization of American Police – and Shredding of Our Constitutional Rights – Started At Least 30 Years Ago

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

This blogger provides a good chronicle of the development of the US police state apparatus which has recently been strengthened by the Senate passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act which permits the indefinite, without a trial, detention of American citizens. This trend has been greatly facilitated under the cover of the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and the 9/11 event.

I think that the impetus for this road to a police state began with the massacre of protesting Kent State students during the Vietnam War. Following this incident activists across the country were so stunned that activism diminished markedly. Other activists went underground to organize paramilitary actions.

See also this 3:47m video from Russia Today entitled, "Occupation Nation".