Political terror 082109

The Bush administration’s immediate reaction after the 911 attacks was SCREAM & SHOUT, RUN ABOUT. Wild pronouncements confused and terrorized the American public. The Administration speculated on speculation in the absence of facts and went to emergency powers that elevated fears even further as even shopping center rent-a-cops began to arrest terrorist. The ensuing panic resulted in a Constitutional crisis that continues today.

The administration proposed and Congress approved outrageous legislation that violated not only citizen civil rights but also many international laws that the United States had originated. The administration’s Attorney General John Ashcroft and his staff wrote politically correct opinions, legalizing the illegal for the administration.

Following the example of previous floundering political administration Bush appointed a Czar to take the heat. Elevated to Cabinet level the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) captured all agencies that might have some capacity for emergency services. Throughout the country upward mobile bureaucrats flocked to the new department to benefit from its money and power. Not satisfied with their piece of pie these bureaucrats ravaged the budgets of its incorporated agencies while safe from oversight.

Hiding behind executive orders, secret courts, and permissive legislation DHS began a campaign of terror. Terror, targeting the public at large. DHS announced terrorist warnings almost daily. The color-coded warnings seemed to ebb and flow on the rise and fall of political polls. Eventually the public began to lose interest in the colors of the day. DHS became a bloated black hole for public money and its TSA the beltway joke.

In a new book former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge says administration pressure to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election convince him it was time to quit working for President George W. Bush. Former administration officials of course deny this allegation. If true the Tom Ridge should be commended for a demonstration of ethics in an administration known for a lack of ethics.

This is not the first case of an administration attempting to terrorize the public for political gain. The Lincoln administration considered declaring war on Mexico to prevent succession. Teddy Roosevelt escalated an African colonial dispute to justify his “Big Stick” intervention. JFK coined a non-existent missile gap to win the 1960 election and LBJ used the bomb to terrorize the electorate.

Being the big bully for almost a century America has made numerous enemies around the globe. Out of powerless frustration some of those enemies are resorting to terror tactics. Administrations however have focused on only one enemy, the American people. The people are the target of state terror through creative dis-information and rationalization that a terrorized population can be controlled for political advantage.