The U.S. government’s ongoing persecution of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning reminds of us the pact that the American people made with the devil at the end of World War II.
Here was the pact:
U.S. officials said to the American people:
We need to keep you safe from the threat of godless communism and from a worldwide communist conspiracy to take over the United States that is orchestrated by the Soviet Union and that is based Moscow, Russia. Even though the Soviet Union was our wartime partner and ally, it is now hell-bent on conquering the United States and the rest of the world. We need to wage a “cold war” and possible some “hot wars” against the communists to protect “national security” and keep you safe.
Unfortunately, America’s founding governmental system of a limited-government republic is insufficient to defeat the communists. In order to win, we will need to convert the federal government into a national-security state, which is the same type of governmental system that the Soviet Union has. In this way, we will be able to wield the same omnipotent powers that the Soviet communists are empowered to wage, such as assassination, torture, kidnapping, rendition, indefinite detention, coups, invasions, embargoes, sanctions, regime-change operations, surveillance, and alliances with dictatorial regimes, all without having to go through Congress or be subject to constitutional review by the federal judiciary.
We promise that to the extent possible, we will operate in secret so that you, the American people, will not have to be troubled by the dark-side practices in which we are engaging. All that you need to do is trust us and understand that we will be a force for good in the world, unlike the communists, who will be exercising the same dark-side practices as part of their worldwide conspiracy to take over the world.
Still shellshocked over the massive death and destruction that had come with World War II, a war that the vast majority of Americans had opposed entering, and having an abiding faith in the federal government, the American people were easily inculcated both with a deep fear of the new enemy, one that U.S officials said was arguably more dangerous to America than even Nazi Germany had been, and with the need to abandon their founding limited-government republic in favor of a national-security state.
Thus, Americans passively went along with the deal that was being offered to them, but based on the mutual understanding that the national-security state’s dark-side practices would be kept secret from them. “We understanding that you’re going to have to engage in communist-like, dark-side practices to keep us safe, practices that violate our Judeo-Christian principles,” Americans said. “But we don’t want our consciences to be troubled by what you are doing. So, just do what you need to do but don’t tell us what you’re doing because we don’t want to know.”
That was the pact that the American people made with the national-security state devil.
That’s why U.S. officials and many American establishment types are so angry with Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange. It is the same reason they are still so angry with Edward Snowden. And all the other whistleblowers who have revealed the national-security state’s dark-side practices to the American people. They’ve all violated the pact! They have brought the national-security state’s dark-side practices into the consciousnesses of the American people, which raises the possibility that people’s long-dormant consciences might start operating again.
That’s why U.S. officials must do everything they can to punish people who violate the pact by disclosing the deep state’s dark-side practices. They desperately need to send the message to others: Do not ever disclose our dark-side secrets to the American people, or we will smash and destroy you.
After all, if people become aware of the national-security state’s dark-side practices, they might, as part of a crisis of conscience, start asking some important questions, like:
Should the U.S. government be engaging in dark-side practices that are engaged in by totalitarian and communist regimes?
Should the U.S. government have ever been engaged in such dark-side practices?
Should the U.S. government have been converted to a national-security state in the first place, especially without a constitutional amendment?
Was the Cold War against godless communism and America’s World War II partner and ally even necessary?
Would it have been better to oppose godless communism and the Soviet Union (and Red China, North Korea, Cuba, and North Vietnam) by retaining America’s system of freedom and limited government?
To what extent has the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state destroyed the freedom, privacy, safety, and well-being of the American people?
To what extent has U.S. national-security state brought unnecessary death, destruction, and suffering to people around the world?
Should the American people reject the national-security state government apparatus and restore a limited-government republic to our land?