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www3.telus.net/neworphicpublishers-hekkanen New Orphic Publishers 706 Mill Street, Nelson, B.C. V1L
4S5 Canada Tel: 250-354-0494 Is The USA Heading Toward Dictatorship? Ernest Hekkanen The United States of
America is now in the last quarter of empire, and when empires reach that
point in their history (it might be more appropriate to say, that point in
their decline) they prove to be extremely dangerous to themselves, their
neighbors and the world at large. States in the last quarter of
empire display readily identifiable characteristics: 1) they become resource
impoverished; 2) their severely diminished manufacturing capabilities
concentrate on the production of military hardware, to the exclusion of just about
everything else; 3) they are driven by expansionist resolve; 4) security
becomes an obsession; 5) if they pretend to be democracies, their democratic
institutions become severely compromised; 6) there is ballooning corruption
in the executive and legislative branches of government; and 7) the news
media are reduced to impotence, if not outlawed. Let’s take a look at each of the
above indicators to discern whether the United States of America is in the
last quarter of empire, if not headed toward dictatorship. 1) There is no denying the fact
that the United States has become a resource-impoverished country. It has
within its borders severely depleted oil reserves and, of course, oil fuels
the U.S. economy and maintains the value of the U.S. dollar. With the possible
exception of Alaska, mineral resources in the United Stares are in rapid
decline. At the same time, in order to continue manufacturing military
hardware, the U.S. must acquire resources by pressuring other countries to
sign agreements favorable to its continued existence. This is often achieved
through economic bullying and threats that partner countries will be invaded.
A good example is the relationship that the United States has with Canada.
Canada is a resource-rich country. As a result, Canadians live in fear that
their country will be forcibly absorbed by its larger, more powerful neighbor
to the south. The U.S. leans on the Government of Canada and Canadian
politicians fall over one another in their attempts to sign agreements
favorable to the U.S. 2) For the most part, empires in
the final throes of decline are handicapped by severely reduced manufacturing
capabilities, except in one crucial area of manufacturing and that has to do
with the production of military equipment. One would have to be blind not to
notice that most of America’s manufacturing capabilities have been shipped
abroad, in order to take advantage of reduced labor costs. This trend has
been going on in every sector of the U.S. economy, except for one major area
of endeavor and that has to do with military defense. The U.S. continues to
manufacture tremendous amounts of military hardware. Indeed, it can be argued
that every sector of the U.S. economy now depends on military subsidization,
to such an enormous degree that the U.S. can no longer reverse this trend
without causing itself irreparable economic harm, if not collapse. Every
other sector of the U.S. economy is now a handmaiden to the production of
military equipment. 3) In order to acquire sufficient
resources to continue producing military hardware, empires in the last
quarter of empire must, by necessity, expand beyond their borders. The U.S.
has been engaging in expansionist behavior for the past sixty years – in the
Middle East, South America and Canada. In order for the U.S. to extract
resources vital to its survival, it resorts to “economic bullying tactics,”
and in some cases, outright invasion of other countries. As a result, it
tends to disregard world-wide, rules-based economic behavior in favor of
using “the big stick approach,” which involves threats, reprisals or outright
occupation of other countries. 4) Because of their economic
vulnerability, countries in the last quarter of empire become increasingly
preoccupied with matters of security – inside its borders, along its borders,
along lines of transportation and in countries essential to its survival. The
greater the economic vulnerability experienced by an empire, the more it
focuses on ferreting out subversives, agitators, activists and detractors who
are deemed harmful to the security of the state. Those who practice free
speech are ridiculed, dismissed as disloyal and accused of giving comfort to
the enemy. Freedom of speech is seen as detrimental to national security. In
the final throes of empire, freedom of speech is limited and finally
curtailed altogether. 5) Empires which were once “of
the people, by the people and for the people” become Corporate Feudal States
“of corporations, by corporations and for corporations.” The rights of
corporations trump the rights of individual citizens in democracies that are
drifting toward dictatorship. Because most of the corporations that continue
to thrive in failing empires are corporations which produce military
hardware, democratic institutions become suspect, especially if they insist
on furthering “the will of the people” rather than “the will of
corporations.” Those who criticize the war-making efforts of the government
are belittled, subjected to surveillance, prevented from indulging in
international travel and finally incarcerated as potential enemies of the state.
Because criticism of the government is no longer tolerated in the chambers of
government, democracy staggers and then falls to its knees. 6) By the time an empire has
reached stage six in its evolution (perhaps I should say, devolution),
corruption is plentiful in the executive and legislative branches of
government, and news agencies, quite deliberately, fail to comment on the
corruption. Secret, corrupt practices in high places in government become a
national security issue. To comment on such corruption is comparable to
giving comfort to the enemy of the state. Those who are in power try to
consolidate their lucrative ties to industries which produce military
hardware. To acquire more wealth and power, government officials seek to
benefit corporations that have begun to determine both domestic and foreign
policy, and that includes the invasion of countries deemed necessary to the
survival of the empire. This type of corrupt activity is allowed to proceed
without so much as a peep of protest from the news media. Justice departments
decline to investigate the corrupt behavior of government officials who
collude with the military-industrial complex, because to expose such
corruption would amount to jeopardizing national security. 7) The news media in empires that
are in the throes of decline become propaganda agencies of the government.
The members of the media become “embedded” at every level of corporate
society. Agents of the government become reporters and reporters become agents
of the government. The independent press becomes an impotent press that is
increasingly ridiculed and marginalized; it is muted, and then it is
legislated out of existence. Increasingly, the survival of
such empires becomes terminally shaky. The shakier the existence of such an
empire, the greater the likelihood that it will drift toward dictatorship.
Military and economic conquest of other countries, and the production of arms
necessary to further that aim, becomes the operating mandate of such empires.
That is the situation the United States finds itself in in the early 21st
century. If I were to situate the United States on a scale of one to ten,
with regard to its democracy (1) turning into a dictatorship (10), I would
rank it at about 7.5. To reverse the current trend
toward dictatorship, the citizens of United States will have to actively
oppose the policies of the government; however, the citizenry has allowed
itself to be cowed, to be made fearful and to be rendered impotent. Despite a
recent election that resulted in the Senate and the House of Representative
being turned over to the Democrats, the executive branch of government – one
of the most corrupt in the history of the United States – does exactly what
it wishes to do. That is because it has the blessings of the Corporate Feudal
Lords of the United States of America; indeed, the Corporate Feudal Lords of
America now dictate America’s domestic and foreign policy. When the Empire of the United
States of America finally implodes, it will be comparable to a black hole
that sucks nearby constellations into it. There exists a cabal of
individuals in the Republican-held White House who have furthered the aims of
dictatorship, and that cabal includes the likes of President George Bush,
Vice-President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
– to name but a few. Such men should be prosecuted at The Hague for War
Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, but I rather doubt that that will ever
take place – even though the above individuals were, in part, responsible for
the destruction of the Twin Towers and Tower Number Seven of the World Trade
Center. If such men were to suddenly reach their expiry
date, I don’t think the world would mourn them. |