Anybody with half a brain (sorry, don't mean to discriminate) knows that during the last ten years or so Wall Street has stolen trillions of dollars on behalf of the plutocracy which has gained control of the levers of power in the country, and with the acquiescence of a very sorry group of people: the sycophants in our government (both major political parties).
In fact, the looting is getting to be so brazen, that just within the last few weeks these crooks have stolen tens of billions of dollars from public pension funds.
And of course, prior to that, there was the 2008 "financial sector crisis" that resulted in trillions of dollars being stolen from the people of this country through the use of elaborate ponzi schemes by Wall Street.
Now, this type of brazen criminality represents the biggest threat to not only our security, but to our democracy itself. The direct consequences of this thievery has been the loss of millions and millions of jobs, tens of millions of people losing their savings and retirement and pension benefits, degradation of public services across the board (in cities and counties across the country), marked increased in poverty. The list goes on and on.
The unquenchable greed and disdain for democracy itself by these people (which actually are not that hard to identify) is so great, and the results of their actions so impactful, that there is no reason why the terms "economic terrorists" or "treason" could not be used against them. In fact, I will call them that. They are the true enemies of the State.
And yet, the focus of attention by law enforcement is on the citizens of this country. Wide dragnets are being set to monitor people. Corporations such as AT&T, Verizon, Google, Facebook, et al, are actively collaborating with you (law enforcement) to allow widespread monitoring of citizen's actions, every word, every utterance, every connection, every "friend", emails, sites visited, financial transactions.
Here's the thing, if we lived in a legitimate democratic system based on the rule of law, that respected the concept of justice and equality for all, one may make the case that these flagrant violations of privacy may be wrong, but not as dangerous to the freedom and liberty of the citizens.
But my dear FBI agent assigned to monitor the Web, or my dear citizen goody-two-shoes spy-wanna-be, we don't live in that type of system.
The system has been totally corrupted and co-opted by an easily identifiable plutocratic criminal ruling class. And they are using you now to establish an oppressive and repressive Police State.
In a normal situation, thousands of Wall Street and corporate crooks would have been prosecuted. These crimes would not have been done with impunity, in broad daylight and with such brazenness. But the reason it happened, and is happening that way is because the entire government has been bought off, and has become totally corrupt--to the core.
Instead we have more instances of police brutality and killings. More instances of public and private agencies constitutional violations.
Study history... Everybody knows that when exploitative ruling elites push the population to the brink of desperation, there are always consequences. It's tantamount of a jack boot being pushed against the necks of the citizens--An that boot, metaphorically speaking, is you.
As they loot and pillage and continue to oppress people, these parasites will hide behind you. They will count on you to make the slave heel before his master. And therefore, you would have become a tool of these parasites.
So please reconsider... As the wholesale and widespread constitutional violations continue, and as you scour in earnest through terabits of data in blogs, and private emails. Please bring these criminals who stole trillions of dollars, to justice.
People are not stupid. They know they got a raw deal. They know that Wall Street stole trillions of dollars, and that the dire economic situations cities and counties and states find themselves in are the direct result of this thievery.
And when people see this type of criminality by the rich and powerful being perpetrated with impunity, they lose faith in the system. They lose faith in the concept of justice and equality under the law, for all. They lose faith in grand statements about patriotism and share sacrifice.
And when people are pushed to the brink, when education is defunded, when teachers are demeaned and their professionalism is attacked, when collective bargaining rights are curtailed, all options for redress are taken away.
And where do they turn to? What should they do? Where have all the leaders gone? Where is Johh, and Malcom, and Bobby, and Martin?
People feel they are on their own--against the machine.
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
- Mario Savio
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