Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE):Ý Free Americans Reaching Out to Amerika's Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free.ÝÝ NOTE:Ý Thanks to Trainsinger for this.ÝÝ --Ý kl, pp

What Is Happening in America? by Eliot Weinberger

This short article was written for "Vorwarts," the official magazine of the German Social Democratic Party.

In the Western democracies in the last fifty years, we have grown accustomed to governments whose policies on specific issues may be good orÝbad, but which essentially institute incremental changes to the statusÝquo.Ý The major exceptions have been Thatcher and Reagan, but even theirÝ programs of dismantling systems of social welfare seem, in retrospect, mildÝcompared to what is happening in the United States under George Bush-- orÝmore exactly, the ruling junta that tells Bush what to do and say. It isÝunquestionably the most radical government in modern American history, oneÝwhose ideology and actions have become so pervasive, and are soÝunquestionably mirrored by the mass media here, that the population seemsÝto have forgotten what "normal" is.

George Bush is the first unelected President of the United States,Ý installed by a right-wing Supreme Court in a kind of judicial coup d'etat.Ý He is the first to actively subvert one of the pillars of AmericanÝ democracy: the separation of church and state.Ý There are now daily prayerÝmeetings and Bible study groups in every branch of the government, and religious organizations are being given funds to take overÝeducational and welfare programs that have always been the domain of theÝ state. Bush is the first president to invoke the specific "Jesus Christ"Ýrather than an ecumenical "God," and he has surrounded himself withÝ evangelical Christians, including his Attorney General, who attends aÝ church where he talks in tongues.

It is the first administration to openly declare a policy of unilateralÝ aggression, a "Pax Americana" where the presence of allies (whether EnglandÝ or Bulgaria) is agreeable but unimportant; where international treaties no longer apply to the United States; and where --for the first time inÝ history-- this country reserves the right to non-defensive, "pre-emptive" strikes against any nation on earth, for whatever reason it declares.

It is the first --since the internment of Japanese-Americans in World WarÝ II-- to enact special laws for a specific ethnic group. Non-citizen youngÝMuslim men are now required to register and subject themselves toÝ interrogation. Many hundreds have been arrested and held without trial orÝaccess to legal assistance-- a violation of another pillar of AmericanÝ democracy: habeas corpus. Many have been taken from their families and deported on minor technical immigration violations; the whereabouts of manyÝothers are still unknown. And, in Guantanamo Bay, where it is said thatÝ they are now preparing execution chambers, hundreds of foreign nationalsÝ --including a 13-year-old and a man who claims to be 100-- have been keptÝ for almost two years in a limbo that clearly contravenes the Geneva Convention.

Similar to the Reagan era, it is an administration openly devoted toÝhelping the rich and ignoring the poor, one that has turned the surplus ofÝ the Clinton years into a massive deficit through its combination ofÝ enormous tax cuts for the wealthy (particularly those who earn more than aÝ million dollars a year) and increases in defense spending. (And, although Republicans always campaign on "less government," it has createdÝ the largest new government bureaucracy in history: the Department ofÝ Homeland Security.) The Financial Times of England, hardly a hotbed ofÝleftists, has categorized this economic policy as "the lunatics taking over the asylum."

But more than Reagan-- whose policies tended to benefit the rich inÝ general-- most of Bush's legislation specifically enriches those in hisÝ lifelong inner circle from the oil, mining, logging, construction, andÝ pharmaceutical industries. At the middle level of the bureaucracy, whereÝ laws may be issued without Congressional approval, hundreds of regulations have been changed to lower standards of pollution or safety inÝ the workplace, to open up wilderness areas for exploitation, or toÝ eliminate the testing of drugs. Billions in government contracts have beenÝ awarded, without competition, to corporations formerly run byÝadministration officials.

In a country where the most significant social changes are enacted by courtÝ rulings, rather than by legislation, the Bush administration has beenÝ filling every level of the complex judicial system with ultra-rightÝ ideologues, especially those who have protected corporations from lawsuitsÝby individuals or environmental groups, and those who are opposed to women's reproductive rights. It remains to be seen how far theyÝcan push their antipathy to contraception and abortion. They have alreadyÝ banned a rare form of late-term abortion that is only given when the healthÝ of the mother is endangered or the fetus is terribly deformed, and a largeÝ portion of Bush's heralded billions to Africa to fight AIDS will be devoted to so-called "abstinence" education.

Most of all, America doesn't feel like America any more. The climate ofÝ militarism and fear, similar to any totalitarian state, permeatesÝeverything. Bush is the first American president in memory to swaggerÝaround in a military uniform, though he himself-- like all of his mostÝmilitant advisers-- evaded the Vietnam War. (Even Eisenhower, a general andÝ a war hero, never wore his uniform while he was president.) In the airports ofÝprovincial cities, there are frequent announcements in that assuring,Ýdisembodied voice of science-fiction films: "The Department of HomelandÝ Security advises that the Terror Alert is now . . . Code Orange." Every few weeks there is an announcement that another terrorist attack isÝimminent, and citizens are urged to take ludicrous measures, like sealingÝ their windows, against biological and chemical attacks, and to report theÝsuspicious activities of their neighbors. The Pentagon institutes theÝ"Total Information Awareness" program to collect data on the ordinaryÝactivities of ordinary citizens (credit card charges, library book withdrawals,Ý university course enrollments) and when this is perceived as going too far,Ý they change the name to "Terrorist Information Awareness" and continue toÝdo the same things. Millions are listed in airport security computers asÝpotential terrorists, including antiwar demonstrators and pacifists.Ý Critics are warned to "watch what they say" and lists of "traitors" areÝposted on the internet.

The war in Iraq has been the most extreme manifestation of this newÝ America, and almost a casebook study in totalitarian techniques. First, anÝEnemy is created by blatant lies that are endlessly repeated until theÝpopulation believes it: in this case, that Iraq was linked to the attack onÝ the World Trade Center, and that it possesses vast "weapons of massÝ destruction" that threaten the world. Then, a War of Liberation, entirelyÝportrayed by the mass media in terms of our Heroic Troops, with little orÝno imagery of casualties and devastation, and with morale-inspiring,Ýscripted "news" scenes-- such as the toppling of the Saddam statue and the heroic "rescue" of Private Lynch-- worthy of Soviet cinema. Finally, as hasÝ happened with Afghanistan, very little news of the chaos that has followedÝthe Great Victory. Instead, the propaganda machine moves on to a new EnemyÝ --this time, Iran.

It is very difficult to speak of what is happening in America withoutÝ resorting to the hyperbolic cliches of anti-Americanism that have lostÝ their meaning after so many decades, but that have now finally come true.Ý Perhaps one can only recite the facts, and I have mentioned only some ofÝ them here. This is, quite simply, the most frightening American administration in modern times, one that is appalling both to the left andÝ to traditional conservatives. This junta is unabashed in its imperialistÝ ambitions; it is enacting an Orwellian state of Perpetual War; it isÝ dismantling, or attempting to dismantle, some of the most fundamentalÝ tenets of American democracy; it is acting without opposition within the government, and is operating so quickly on so many fronts that it hasÝ overwhelmed and exhausted any popular opposition. Perhaps it cannot beÝstopped, but the first step toward slowing it down is the recognition thatÝ this is an American government unlike any other in this country's history,Ý and one for whom democracy is an obstacle.

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