American minarchists and constitutionalists, and some conservatives have the mindset that sure, government is full of bad people and it is not to be trusted, but if we make it smaller like it used to be, it can work. Some of them may even believe that government is evil, but they consider it a necessary evil and repeat the same thought-process seen above.
If only government were smaller, we, the people, would have it under control and it would serve our interests.
They will claim that government needs to return to the way it used to be: to the vision of the founding fathers. I'm here to tell you even IF this would ever happen (it won't), it wouldn't solve the underlying problem of corruption in government.
The Whiskey Rebellion
Let's start at the very beginning. You want America to return to the vision of the Founding Fathers? Take a look at George Washington's vision for America.
The newly formed United States government decided to impose a "whisky tax" on domestic distilled spirits. Remember, we're talking about the government that was just formed to escape the frivolous taxes of England. The people rightfully protested in what became known as The Whiskey Rebellion. Protesters did whatever they could to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax.
The people organized into an army of 500 and marched on the fortified home of tax inspector General John Neville. President George Washington responded by sending "peace commissioners" (that's doublespeak if I ever saw it) to negotiate as well as a militia to enforce the tax. An overwhelming force of 13,000 men went out to quash the rebellion. Knowing that their chances were slim, the protesters disbanded. [1]
Over the next six years, 175 distillers from Kentucky alone were convicted of violating the tax law. [2]
The government's new tax and response to the rebellion demonstrated early on that like every government that came before them, they cared nothing for the desires of "the people." They wanted money and power, and they would stop at nothing to enforce their extortion demands laws.
St. Louis Covert Chemical Attacks
Now we're going to jump ahead more than a century and a half to the 1950s in St. Louis. Did you know that the army was doing secret chemical testing on St. Louis neighbourhoods during the Cold War? Those neighbourhoods sure as hell didn't!
In the mid-50s and again in the 60s, the army used blowers mounted on top of low-income housing high-rises, schools, and from the backs of station wagons to dispense dangerous compounds into predominantly black areas of St. Louis.
Local officials approved the army's presence because they were told that the government was testing a smoke screen that could shield the city from aerial observation in case of a Russian attack. It was revealed in 1994 that the tests were actually part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to certain Russian cities.
Since that time, there have been unusually high instances of cancer in those neighbourhoods. The doses also led to bone and kidney problems in some residents. Information is hard to find because the army isn't chomping at the bit to do any followup studies.
Mary Helen Brindell, a resident of St. Louis at the time, has battled four different types of Cancer. She said, " I feel betrayed. We pointed our fingers during the Holocaust, and we do something like this?" [3]
This is what government does. You and your neighbours are nothing more than pawns and lab rats to them.
Project MKUltra
Project MKUltra is the code name given to the CIA's covert mind control program. You read that right. In the early 1950s, the CIA began secretly experimenting on human subjects, at times even taking illegal actions (whatever that means...) against the test subjects.
The experiments were meant to help identify and develop drugs and procedures that could be used in interrogations. It's easier to get information and confessions if you use mind control, right? [4]
The program used several methodologies against unknowing U.S. and Canadian citizens to alter their mental states and brain functions, including the administration of drugs like LSD and other chemicals. The program also used hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal abuse, and other forms of psychological torture. [5]
The CIA intentionally destroyed many records related to this program (surprise, surprise) so it's difficult to get an exact tally of the casualties. But there were casualties. [6]
There are several known deaths, including Frank Olson, a U.S. Army biochemist researcher. He was given LSD without his knowledge in 1953 and died under suspicious circumstances a week later. The Olson family believes that he was murdered after the experiments because he had become a security risk who might divulge state secrets. [7]
The operations were officially halted in 1973. Who knows if they actually stopped. I'm not quick to trust the word of any government.
Operation Northwoods
You may be quick to dismiss the conspiracy theorist's cry of "false flag!" But did you know that there is a documented proposal of a false flag operation in the U.S. Government?
Operation Northwoods called for the CIA and other operatives to commit acts of terrorism against American civilians and military targets. They would then blame these attacks on Castro's regime in Cuba. Their plans included assassinations, sinking boats full of refugees, hijacking planes, blowing up U.S. ships, and violent terrorism in American cities. [8]
Thankfully, the Kennedy administration rejected these proposals. But this just goes to show what the U.S. Government is capable of coming up with. It happened before, it's probably happened since.
The Entire History of the Drug War
I'll keep this last entry very brief. Dennis Dayle, former chief of CENTAC for the DEA investigated and prosecuted drug cartels all over the world. Suffice it to say, if anybody knew what was behind all of them, it was him.
He said, "In my 30-year history in the Drug Enforcement Administration and related agencies, the major targets of my investigations almost invariably turned out to be working for the CIA." [9]
Did you understand that? One of the former DEA chiefs admitted that most of the higher-ups in the drug cartels turned out to be CIA operatives.
The government isn't interested in ended the drug war. The government isn't interested in stopping terror. They make the terror.
Why do These Things Keep Happening?
It doesn't matter how big the government, it doesn't matter how pure the constitution. People are corrupt, and people with power... well, power let's them get away with that corruption.
People with power will, without fail, lie to, manipulate and abuse those under their thumb. They will do whatever it takes to hold on to their power.
What's the Solution?
Stop giving them power!
You don't need a ruler. Rule yourself.
~Seth
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IMAGE SOURCES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
SOURCES:
- Mount Vernon
- Rorabaugh, W.J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition, 1979. Oxford University Press, 53.
- Business Insider
- Advisory on Human Radiation Experiments
- Otterman, Michael (2007). American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond. Melbourne University Publishing. p. 24.
- Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans Health?
- The Olson File
- ABC News
- Foreign Policy in Focus