The last Independance Day?

On the eve of yet another American holiday celebrating our independence this past year has seen a flurry of activity aimed at reducing our personal independence in the name of security. It was Benjamin Franklin that famously quoted, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety", with this in mind let's look how things have quietly unfolded.

January 1, 2012  wasn't only the start of a new year but the day our president signed into law the National Defense and Authorization Act , or the NDAA. Sections 1021 and 1022 allow the U.S. military to indefinitely detain without trial, anyone suspected of involvement in terrorism, including American civilians on American soil, and provides for the eventual trials to be carried out by military commissions rather than civilian courts. This portion of the NDAA practically annihilates due process of law as provided by the fifth and sixth amendments of the Constitution.  

Fast forward and on March 16th 2012 Obama strikes again signing a new Executive Order 13603, referred to as The National defense Resources Preparedness order. this little gem of an order give the Executive Branch the power to control and allocate energy, production, transportation, food, and even water resources by decree under the auspices of national defense and national security. The order is not limited to wartime implementation, as one of the order's functions includes the command and control of resources in peacetime determinations. By authority of the President the following agency heads would have complete control of their perspective resources:

1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;

(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;

(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;

(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;

(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and

(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials

Section 601 gives the President the power to sidestep congress and implement the draft in the military at will and even crazier than that section 801 gives the President the power to retain "skilled labor" without compensation. It does not define if the "skilled labor' is ditch digging, and being forced to work without compensation sounds an awfully lot like SLAVERY to me, a surprising feature to be signed into law by a black President. This Executive Order goes on to define the Presidents complete control of all food consumed by either human or animal including all tools, such as farm equipment, that are used to produce such foods.

Most recently The President has moved to have the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, speed up the process of issuing special certificates allowing unpiloted drones to fly on patrols in the skies over American cities. These drones, to number as many as 30,000 by 2015, are reportedly to be used for surveillance purposes only but clearly have been weaponized to kill terrorist overseas and the domestic ones are to be built with the ability to weaponized "as needed".

Clearly modern technology has brought the once unrealistic possibility of George Orwell's 1984 world into ever closer reality. Unlike any other people of this planet Americans hold a belief that our freedoms are God given and inalienable, and not to be denied, taken away, or given up without a fight. One of the last remaining weapons we have, for now, is the ability to fight back with our votes. The world wide web, as flawed as it can be, is still a source of free information and ideas, and everyone should use it while we still can to educate themselves on what candidate is our best hope for a free America. So on the eve of Independence Day why not make a personal promise you yourself not to give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety.