Joe,
As a Federal employee, I can assure you, my friend, that it is worse not only than you imagine, but that you CAN imagine. I hate my job but must keep it to keep my teenaged son healthy. His mom, unfortunately, had to be discarded since she had the need to stay "true to her country", what the hell ever that means. He and I are doing just fine here in the apocalyptic mess that is post-Katrina Mississippi and I am doing my best to open his mind as we rebuild our lives.
As the old saw goes, whither thou goest -- at least he is goesting with his dad, another old hippie who refuses to become grown up and become a Nazi. I've just drank my last beer for the night, and Uncle Sam expects his eight hours of management from me on the morrow, so I'll just say "KEEP THE FIRE BURNING BROTHER, AND SOLIDARITY -- we aren't all automatons".
Peace,
Jeff
Mississippi
------
Dear Jeff:
Your letter is heartbreaking. I know of several marriages that have been broken up due to the evolving fascist state here, and several more that may as well be, considering the level of estrangement. Fortunately for me, mine is not among them, though it is mightily stressed at times.
A couple of years ago I tried to express the growing sense of alienation in a piece called "Dining with the Rhinos." At the time, I didn't realize how much worse it could get, and had never considered that it would reach into relationships. Now I am seeing that it does. Most of the time though, it does not seem to manifest itself in as overtly political terms as you have described. Most of the time, from what I am seeing, one spouse simply decides the other one has gone off the deep end and the other realizes that living out a state sponsored lie with no voice is worse than divorce.
I have been wanting to write an essay about it but have been afraid to do so because, no matter how I write it, friends and family will see it as somehow being about my own marriage. THAT, I know my marriage cannot take.
Perhaps the most surprising thing to me is the way a people living under fascism cannot perceive it as such, because every day the sun comes up and no jackbooted armies march in the streets, which is what the oversimplification of history fed them by media and state have taught them is supposed to happen when fascism arrives. Of course fascism is first and foremost about economic control and always has as more to do with money than with military force, when it comes to its expression on the homefront.
Meanwhile, 5000 people are snatched in the night by our government right here in our own country and held without due process for years and Americans do not find it particularly disturbing.
On that note, let me suggest a couple of wonderful short videos. The first is a 37-minute interview of Aaron Russo, a very brave and intelligent man who is taking direct action with his new documentary film America: From Freedom to Fascism. The second link is a 15-minute trailer of the film.
37-minute interview with Aaron Russo
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3254488777215293198
15-minute trailer of the film America: From Freedom to Fascism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3171333253967404913
And here is a link to Aaron Russo's web site for the film:
http://www.freedomtofascism.com/
Solidarity,
Joe
