As I point out in my new book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, what characterizes American government today is not so much dysfunctional politics as it is ruthlessly contrived governance carried out behind the entertaining, distracting and disingenuous curtain of political theater.
Played out on the national stage and eagerly broadcast to a captive audience by media sponsors, this farcical exercise in political theater can, at times, seem riveting, life-changing and suspenseful, even for those who know better. Week after week, the script changes, with each new script following on the heels of the last, never any let-up, never any relief from the constant melodrama. The players come and go, the protagonists and antagonists trade places, and the audience members are forgiving to a fault, quick to forget past mistakes and move on to the next spectacle. All the while, a different kind of drama is unfolding in the dark backstage, where those who really run the show are putting in place policies which erode our freedoms and undermine our attempts at contributing to the workings of our government.
A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State by John W. Whitehead
It’s the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst. A perfect example of this: while the nation debated the Trayvon Martin ruling, the Obama administration quietly requested and was granted permission by the FISA court which oversees the NSA’s surveillance programs to keep spying on Americans’ phone calls and emails to the tune of hundreds of millions of records per day.
Tune in tomorrow for more on this latest wrinkle in the surveillance saga.
John W. Whitehead, Constitutional Attorney 