… the US government has intensified its crackdown on political dissidents opposing corporate globalization, and it is using the same intimidating and probably unconstitutional tactics against demonstrators at the presidential inauguration. (The Nation Magazine, January 19, 2001)

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10371

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Dissent/Crackdown_Dissent.html

The Canada Free Press is citing one FBI source who is strongly suggesting that those who attended the recent Tea Party may now be semi-celebrities on law enforcement surveillance video tapes.

The second citation provided above is the other side’s story of protest surveillance, those who have been protesting the World Bank, the IMF for years now.  I liked the second story particularly because it was written at the dawn of the second Bush administration.

Keep in mind, Janet Reno was Janet Napolitano’s mentor when Nappy served in the US Justice Department.  Their relationship is well documented.  So we have an idea of what to expect under Nappy’s reign at Homeland Security.  I know for a fact that the MMCDC was infiltrated by the SPLC who provided information on the Border Watch to a government agency.  Yeah, the old folks in lawn chairs sitting on the border in 2004 were the subject of government surveillance.

My point is, rather than sniping at each other as in the cartoon Spy versus Spy, both sides of the political spectrum should be carefully looking at the emergence of a very paranoid centralized government with legal powers not seen in North America since before the founding of our country.

Perhaps those “hidden hands of power” have perfected the illusion of Republican versus Democrat to the point that most Americans view their governance as yet another sporting event.

Could it be that, as the title of Larry Elder’s book suggests, there’s only a dimes worth of difference between either major political party?  Rather, those holding power have utilized the dialectic to herd an inattentive populace into fascism with a happy face?

Perhaps this is what’s behind the government’s paranoia; the people might wake up.  Consider that since at least the Jimmy Carter Administration, fear has been the means of motivation behind many calls for “Change”.

Maybe both sides now should look at their common ground, step out of the sporting event dialectic and as Toto did in the Wizard of Oz, pull back the curtain behind which our nation’s leaders are hiding.