"The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is a disturbing history of political imprisonment in the Soviet Union from the October Revolution to the 1970s. Solzhenitsyn was himself a prisoner of the system for many years and his account of the deprivations, depravations, and despotism political dissidents suffered in prison under the Stalin and later regimes is sickening.
As disturbing is the willingness of the Soviet people to simultaneously accept and deny the existence of the agencies, courts and prisons that tortured and killed tens of millions of Soviet citizens in the name of the Revolution. In the name of national security.
I'm not saying here that FEMA is building concentration camps, etc. I'll leave that to the Alex Jones types.
What I want to discuss is the idea of terrorism and torture. Some have called the Obama Administration, the Holder Department of Justice and the Lerner Internal Revenue Service "terrorist" organizations. The statists, the progressives and much of the left and right in the country have scoffed at that. I'm not convinced that the description is entirely without merit.
In the Gulag, prisoners were frequently left alone all night long. No glaring lights, no jailor's key in the lock, no interrogation, no torture. But from down the prison hall the screams of other prisoners being tortured and interrogated could be heard incessantly. The prisoner knew all the while that the next time someone came for him, it could mean torture and pain; and when all that came was a bowl of thin soup instead, the psychological effect was profound. But inevitably the interrogators did come for him; and the pain was just as severe as it had been for that unknown individual nights before. And because of the psychological preparation he'd received the effects of the torture were even more severe.
Prisoners sentenced to death were treated similarly. Sometimes they were held in cells so long, and treated with such friendliness that they began to believe that their day of execution would never come. Sometimes they were kept in a constant state of terror by being dragged out of their cell - sometimes several times a night - bound, gagged, made to face a firing squad with rifles raised, only at the last minute to be snatched up and thrown back into their cell. A momentary reprieve that was in truth no reprieve at all. Just think of the frustration and pain you've felt sitting on the tarmac waiting for your plane to take off, and then pulling back into the gate for some maintenance item...
When government applies or enforces laws inconsistently and inequitably, this is what they are doing to the entire population. And yet there are so many of us who say, "Oh, yes, but it is for the greater good." "Oh, yes, but we all must sacrifice." "Oh, yes, but they know better than we." "Oh, yes, but it is a complicated issue." "Oh, yes, but I haven't been hurt." "Oh, yes, but it has been good for me."
Anxiety. Uncertainty. Frustration. Terror.
How many immigrants - legal or otherwise - live in constant uncertainty of their future? They came here under one set of laws that were predictable in their unenforced state. Now there is constant commotion and perpetual change. Comprehensive immigration reform? They are anxious and uncertain.
How many people accepted employment with one of the considerations being the healthcare benefits their employer offered? Now, with the on-again, off-again implementation of the Affordable Care Act they cannot know what to expect. Patient protection? They are frustrated and anxious.
How many entrepreneurs put all of their human and financial capital into their dreams? Now they don't know what will be required of them by the State and if they will be able to meet those requirements or be required to close up shop. The land of opportunity? They are uncertain and frustrated.
How many of us, depending on the guarantee of freedom of conscience, speech and privacy have spoken our minds? Now, with the IRS free to audit and harass on the basis of politics, the DOJ free to hunt and entrap dissidents as extremist elements, and the NSA recording every bit of data for use in some future trial we can know exactly what to expect unless we can reduce the power and reach of government to some reasonable level. The land of the free?
We are terrorized.
As disturbing is the willingness of the Soviet people to simultaneously accept and deny the existence of the agencies, courts and prisons that tortured and killed tens of millions of Soviet citizens in the name of the Revolution. In the name of national security.
I'm not saying here that FEMA is building concentration camps, etc. I'll leave that to the Alex Jones types.
What I want to discuss is the idea of terrorism and torture. Some have called the Obama Administration, the Holder Department of Justice and the Lerner Internal Revenue Service "terrorist" organizations. The statists, the progressives and much of the left and right in the country have scoffed at that. I'm not convinced that the description is entirely without merit.
In the Gulag, prisoners were frequently left alone all night long. No glaring lights, no jailor's key in the lock, no interrogation, no torture. But from down the prison hall the screams of other prisoners being tortured and interrogated could be heard incessantly. The prisoner knew all the while that the next time someone came for him, it could mean torture and pain; and when all that came was a bowl of thin soup instead, the psychological effect was profound. But inevitably the interrogators did come for him; and the pain was just as severe as it had been for that unknown individual nights before. And because of the psychological preparation he'd received the effects of the torture were even more severe.
Prisoners sentenced to death were treated similarly. Sometimes they were held in cells so long, and treated with such friendliness that they began to believe that their day of execution would never come. Sometimes they were kept in a constant state of terror by being dragged out of their cell - sometimes several times a night - bound, gagged, made to face a firing squad with rifles raised, only at the last minute to be snatched up and thrown back into their cell. A momentary reprieve that was in truth no reprieve at all. Just think of the frustration and pain you've felt sitting on the tarmac waiting for your plane to take off, and then pulling back into the gate for some maintenance item...
When government applies or enforces laws inconsistently and inequitably, this is what they are doing to the entire population. And yet there are so many of us who say, "Oh, yes, but it is for the greater good." "Oh, yes, but we all must sacrifice." "Oh, yes, but they know better than we." "Oh, yes, but it is a complicated issue." "Oh, yes, but I haven't been hurt." "Oh, yes, but it has been good for me."
Anxiety. Uncertainty. Frustration. Terror.
How many immigrants - legal or otherwise - live in constant uncertainty of their future? They came here under one set of laws that were predictable in their unenforced state. Now there is constant commotion and perpetual change. Comprehensive immigration reform? They are anxious and uncertain.
How many people accepted employment with one of the considerations being the healthcare benefits their employer offered? Now, with the on-again, off-again implementation of the Affordable Care Act they cannot know what to expect. Patient protection? They are frustrated and anxious.
How many entrepreneurs put all of their human and financial capital into their dreams? Now they don't know what will be required of them by the State and if they will be able to meet those requirements or be required to close up shop. The land of opportunity? They are uncertain and frustrated.
How many of us, depending on the guarantee of freedom of conscience, speech and privacy have spoken our minds? Now, with the IRS free to audit and harass on the basis of politics, the DOJ free to hunt and entrap dissidents as extremist elements, and the NSA recording every bit of data for use in some future trial we can know exactly what to expect unless we can reduce the power and reach of government to some reasonable level. The land of the free?
We are terrorized.
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