Why wont they say no

Why Won't They Say 'NO!'?
Butler Shaffer
LewRockwell.com
Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:56 EDT



While critics of the vicious and evil policies of the modern American state continue to ask what can be done to punish and/or remove its practitioners from office, I am far more interested in the question: why do the American people continue to support such destructive and tyrannical behavior, whether eagerly or by silent acquiescence? With almost weekly escalation of government power over their lives, and threats to the lives of innocent men, women, and children in foreign lands, why is there so little willingness to say "No! You have gone too far for decent people to any longer tolerate your actions!"?

America is in terrible straits. It is no exaggeration to suggest that it is well into an irreversible state of collapse. The national government is ruled by psychopaths, with wars being fabricated out of lies, forged "documents," and other deceptions. Two nations that have not posed any kind of threat to the United States have been singled out for unprovoked attacks. With the diminishing returns that have rendered the continued bullying of Iraqi and Afghan people boring to both advocates and opponents of these wars, Republican and Democratic officials now turn their attentions to another country that poses no threat to America: Iran.

Why is there no widespread moral revulsion by Americans against the murderous and destructive policies of its political system? If your son was out with his friends engaging in drive-by shootings, would you be as proud as the parents of those who do their killings on behalf of the state, and who emblazon their cars with bumper-stickers reading "proud parents of a Marine"?

Even if we don't wallow in such savagery, why are so many of us unwilling to openly condemn it? As the current police-state continues its growth, some may understandably fear the midnight knock on their front door that was implicit in the September, 2001 remark by White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer: people "need to watch what they say, watch what they do." The message gets through to many that, an administration that thumbs its nose at habeas corpus, embraces the use of torture, and openly regards the Constitution as nothing more than "a piece of paper," is a bully too dangerous to offend.

I suspect that many who secretly oppose what the state is doing believe that such "excesses" amount to little more than a temporary embarrassment; one that will pass upon the end of George W's final term; and that the election of a new president will bring things back to "normal." But it seems clear that what we are now experiencing in America is a new "norm"; that we are dealing not just with the idiosyncrasies and psychotic traits embedded in the present administration. The problem runs much deeper, I believe, as an expression of more sinister purposes of the political establishment that presumes ownership of the nation.

Is the American civilization likely to recover its bearings in time to reverse its moral and intellectual free-fall? In the absence of a fundamental transformation in thought and the nature of social systems, the answer is a firm "no." America - along with the rest of the West - will likely find itself suffering the fate of all previous civilizations. War-lusting empires collapse, but civilizations leave to the rest of mankind their creative and beneficial attributes. Thus were we bequeathed by the ancient Greeks the basic foundations for intelligent thought; the Romans their engineering skills; and the Persians their important work in the sciences and advanced forms of mathematics.

Western civilization built on these and other attributes to produce great works of literature, art, music, scientific discovery, and invention. But perhaps its greatest contribution to human well-being will prove to have been the confluence of such factors as individual liberty, the private ownership of property, and an understanding of the dynamics of the marketplace, to have produced the industrial revolution. In contrast with its present decline-and-fall, we should learn from history that civilizations are created and sustained by individuals; they are destroyed by collectives.

Recent civilizations have generally followed a westerly course: from Greece to Rome to Western Europe to Great Britain to America. Perhaps the beneficent qualities that once made America great - particularly respect for individuals pursuing their self-interests within free markets - will be embraced by Asian countries - perhaps China - as the creative energies that make for great civilizations continue their westward trek.

Perhaps centuries from now, historians - writing in different languages than English, and for intelligent minds of different cultures than ours - will ponder the question with which Gibbon and others left us after the fall of Rome: why? Having produced such free, prosperous, and humane social systems, why were the foundations of Western civilization so easily allowed to be torn away? As barbarians and looters began to ooze their way upwards through an expanding pool of muck, why were so many millions of people who had benefited from this civilization - and who stood to suffer the most from its collapse - so unwilling or unable to see what was at stake, and to say "No!"?
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I see the problem as simple as, if English media (all forms) do not tell the truth, then people are unaware of how bad the situation is. As long as we are provided a scapegoat i.e. Iran / Russia, then noone thinks our own government is to blame or even if it is blatent that they are, we cannot do anything about it, so they carry on watching the soaps and reality TV, thinking , this does not effect them and if it does then that is just part of life. Not many people believe we can shape the Earth the way it should be.
The truth can be reported Globally in various languages, but we will not know it. Also, if you watch any real news i.e. Al Jazeera, then people still scoff, that it has been labelled and classified as bad / unreliable news.
Lastly , as mentioned in the article above, if you do have your eyes open and you take a day out of your comfortable life to say what needs to be said, you are likely to be labelled and unforeseen things may happen to your comfortable life.