Dr. Forbush Thinks

A police state is defined as state regulated by secret police; the police exercise power on behalf of the executive and the conduct of the police cannot be effectively challenged. In such regimes there is no significant distinction between the law and the will of the executive; there is no rule of law.

No country ever claims to be a police state. That is because the implications of being a police state are so negative. Supporters of the regime in power would rather claim that strict authority is needed to maintain control. Obviously the government does not even want the average citizen to even know about the existence of the secret police, let alone what they are bound to do. Secrecy is the key to maintaining the element of surprise. When people suspect that they are being watched, but they don’t know when and where they are being watched they are likely to refrain from anti-government sentiment at all times.

When the New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was spying on its citizens there are two typical reactions. For the people who support the Bush administration there is joy in their hearts. Of course they are part of the power structure and they don’t feel the fear of what a police state can do. Only evil people should fear being spied on and supporters of the president can not be evil, by definition. Its interesting that this was the same attitude that supporters of other police states had. Opposition to the Bush administration rightly has fear in their hearts. The secret nature of spying and the adversary nature of politics can quickly degenerate into spying on your political enemy. Obviously it would be nice to know what your political rival is about to do before they do it. This is what Richard Nixon resigned over.

We now know that Richard Nixon did not only spy on the Democrats. He directed the IRS to audit people that he didn’t like. He told the FBI to investigate Civil Rights leaders and War Protest leaders. Some people were framed on drug possession charges. Some people were threatened. And, at the same time we were fighting a war against communism that was being sold to the public as protection from the totalitarian police state of the Soviet Union. It’s quite ironic that the Nixon administration was using the same tactics in our own country against their political enemies.

Why would we expect the Bush administration to be any different? George W Bush tells the American public that he only has the interest and welfare of the American people in his heart. But, Richard Nixon told the American people the same things. We can only know what is in the heart of George W Bush by the actions of George W Bush, because his words are hollow. The evidence that he believes that he is above the law assures us that he does not believe in Democracy. He only believes in one-party rule and he endorses the typical actions of a police state to maintain his control.

But, there is certainly hope. Police states are not created over night. Slowly more and more power is gradually given to the executive branch where the secret police slowly get more control over political rivals to the executive branch. Excuses are created to persuade the congress to surrender their power to the executive branch. The checks and balances gradually slide to the side of the executive branch. The final checks in the system are the people. If the people are able to recognize Democracy slipping away before its to late they will be able to replace the congress that willingly gives their power to the executive branch. In the next year the American people need to remain vigilant and vote out the enablers of this administration’s effort to create the American Police State.






Politics, Secret Spies, Spying, War on Terror, President Bush, Impeach Bush