American Tears

I wish people would stop breaking into tears when they talk to me these days.

I am traveling across the country at the moment -- Colorado to California -- speaking to groups of Americans from all walks of life about the assault on liberty and the 10 steps now underway in America to a violently closed society.

The good news is that Americans are already awake: I thought there would be resistance to or disbelief at this message of gathering darkness -- but I am finding crowds of people who don't need me to tell them to worry; they are already scared, already alert to the danger and entirely prepared to hear what the big picture might look like. To my great relief, Americans are smart and brave and they are unflinching in their readiness to hear the worst and take action. And they love their country.

But I can't stand the stories I am hearing. I can't stand to open my email these days. And wherever I go, it seems, at least once a day, someone very strong starts to cry while they are speaking.

In Boulder, two days ago, a rosy-cheeked thirtysomething mother of two small children, in soft yoga velours, started to tear up when she said to me: "I want to take action but I am so scared. I look at my kids and I am scared. How do you deal with fear? Is it safer for them if I act or stay quiet? I don't want to get on a list." In D.C., before that, a beefy, handsome civil servant, a government department head -- probably a Republican -- confides in a lowered voice that he is scared to sign the new ID requirement for all government employees, that exposes all his most personal information to the State -- but he is scared not to sign it: "If I don't, I lose my job, my house. It's like the German National ID card," he said quietly. This morning in Denver I talked for almost an hour to a brave, much-decorated high-level military man who is not only on the watch list for his criticism of the administration -- his family is now on the list. His elderly mother is on the list. His teenage son is on the list. He has flown many dangerous combat missions over the course of his military career, but his voice cracks when he talks about the possibility that he is exposing his children to harassment.

Jim Spencer, a former columnist for the Denver Post who has been critical of the Bush administration, told me today that I could use his name: he is on the watch list. An attorney contacts me to say that she told her colleagues at the Justice Department not to torture a detainee; she says she then faced a criminal investigation, a professional referral, saw her emails deleted -- and now she is on the watch list. I was told last night that a leader of Code Pink, the anti-war women's action group, was refused entry to Canada. I hear from a tech guy who works for the airlines -- again, probably a Republican -- that once you are on the list you never get off. Someone else says that his friend opened his luggage to find a letter from the TSA saying that they did not appreciate his reading material. Before I go into the security lines, I find myself editing my possessions. In New York's LaGuardia, I reluctantly found myself putting a hardcover copy of Tara McKelvey's excellent Monstering, an expose of CIA interrogation practices, in a garbage can before I get in the security line; it is based on classified information. This morning at my hotel, before going to the sirport, I threw away a very nice black T-shirt that said "We Will Not be Silenced" -- with an Arabic translation -- that someone had given me, along with a copy of poems written by detainees at Guantanamo.

In my America we are not scared to get in line at the airport. In my America, we will not be silenced.

More times than I can count, courageous and confident men who are telling me about speaking up, but who are risking what they see as the possible loss of job, home or the ability to pay for grown kids' schooling, start to choke up. Yesterday a woman in one gathering started to cry simply while talking about the degradation of her beloved country.

And always the questions: what do we do?

It is clear from this inundation of personal stories of abuse and retribution against ordinary Americans that a network of criminal behavior and intention is catching up more and more mainstream citizens in its grasp. It is clear that this is not democracy as usual -- or even the corruption of democracy as usual. It is clear that we will need more drastic action than emails to Congress.

The people I am hearing from are conservatives and independents as well as progressives. The cardinal rule of a closing or closed society is that your alignment with the regime offers no protection; in a true police state no one is safe.

I read the news in a state of something like walking shock: seven soldiers wrote op-eds critical of the war -- in The New York Times; three are dead, one shot in the head. A female soldier who was about to become a whistleblower, possibly about abuses involving taxpayers' money: shot in the head. Pat Tillman, who was contemplating coming forward in a critique of the war: shot in the head. Donald Vance, a contractor himself, who blew the whistle on irregularities involving arms sales in Iraq -- taken hostage FROM the U.S. Embassy BY U.S. soldiers and kept without recourse to a lawyer in a U.S. held-prison, abused and terrified for weeks -- and scared to talk once he got home. Another whistleblower in Iraq, as reported in Vanity Fair: held in a trailer all night by armed contractors before being ejected from the country.

Last week contractors, immune from the rule of law, butchered 17 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. Congress mildly objected -- and contractors today butcher two more innocent civilian Iraqi ladies -- in cold blood.

It is clear yet that violent retribution, torture or maybe worse, seems to go right up this chain of command? Is it clear yet that these people are capable of anything? Is it obvious yet that criminals are at the helm of the nation and need to be not only ousted but held accountable for their crimes?

Is it treason yet?

This is an open invitation to honorable patriots on the Right and in the center to join this movement to restore the rule of law and confront this horror: this is not conservatism, it is a series of crimes against the nation and against the very essence of America. Join us, we need you.

This movement must transcend partisan lines. The power of individual conscience is profound when people start to wake up.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said No: he told colleague that they would be ashamed when the world learned about the Administration's warrantless wiretapping. A judge today ruled that the U.S. can't just ship prisoners out of Guantanamo to be tortured at will -- she said No. The Center for Constitutional Rights is about to file a civil lawsuit -- against Blackwater: they are saying No.

In Germany, according to historian Richard Evans, in 1931-1932, if enough Germans of conscience had begun to say No -- history would have had an entirely diferent outcome.

If we go any further down this road the tears will be those of conservatives as well as progressives. They will be American tears.

The time for weeping has to stop; the time for confronting must begin.

Comments

[cowboyjerkface]

If 9/11 has revealed anything about our country, its that it doesnt take much to cower us into a corner and cry like babies. Notice how fast we are to jettison our hard fought liberties in the pursuit of safety that is neither real nor lasting. The way to stand up to terrorist is to not change how we live but to continue as if it will take more than a couple of airplanes into a building to buckle us! Thanks to the cowards who are in office now, we have behaved like cats in a room full of rockers. We are the laughingstock of the western world and we have the cowardly neo-cons to thank for that. Fortunately they are a minority in this country and we will return to an american way of life as soon as we throw the cowardly draft dodging bums outta office!

[CenterOfMass]

I'd like to agree with the last part, except that we'd possibly still have the same spineless Congress that could not deal with the draft-dodging bums. So things might not return to "an american way of life" anyway.

[Nommo]

I suggest to you cowboy, that the hard fighting wasn't done by those who claim most fiercely the rights.
There's a bunch of lessons to be had, though.

[fisharefreinds]

What is happening here? The more I read the more I don't want to know. It leaves me speechless and winded yet, silence is a crime too. Talkings a crime, silence a crime, and no one can hear us?!
My great grandmother warned my mother--"You think your safe here in America? We thought we were safe in Germany too. My husband got an Iron Cross for service in the WWI army. Didn't matter." Are we all to be afraid again and what do we do? No one can hear us.

[transendentilist]

This man lived through fall of German democracy during the 1930s Germany. He is well worth listening to.

http://www.lbi.org/fritzstern.html

[research]

Thank you Naomi! I reference your 10 steps to fascism all the time! Keep it up!

[Mort]

In my America, we're supposed to vote out the bums and install new leaders who serve the people. Problem is, we usually end up either re-electing the bums or replacing them with a different flavor of the same old do-nothing, self-serving, pandering liars.

[patanderson]

What Ms Wolf has detailed without coming directly to the point is....we'r­e dealing with a modern day government of Fascists.

What democracy puts together lists of citizens that have DARED to speak against their policies?

What democracy puts citizens on "no fly lists" because they had the audacity to question what their government was doing?

What democracy sets up "free speech zones" so the politician doesn't have to listen to dissenters?

What democracy trashes a persons service to their country because they don't agree with their policies?

Hitler would have been damn near unstoppable if he had been in his position of power today....j­ust think of him having access to the internet, an ENTIRE television network and thousands of propagandists on the airwaves every single day!

What amazes me is the Right Wingers who actually support all this. Why has an entire segment of this country become such cowards that can be so manipulated by fear and outright lies? More to the point....h­ow the hell can we make them see what they are allowing this country to become and how the hell can we stop it?

[nlightenup]

Just last week I was asking a friend when would we start reading Bush & Co.'s actions named as what they are: treason.

Thank you!

I am flabbergasted at all the people who are letting themselves be immobilized by fear at the very time when we most need to rise up on our hind legs and fix the administration with eyes that will not quaver or turn away, fed by an honesty none of the neocons have known since long before they lied under oath the first time. I don't mean to minimize the very warranted fear of good people. I know what it is to be whacked hard and bankrupted for one's good deeds. But if we don't confront, we're all as good as dead. And we recover from hard whacks.

[PMatt]

I need to get out more. I'm not in scared.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm

[AnRoistac]

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...

You obviously don't understand the situation.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

I most certainly do, thank you very much.

You might not have noticed that those of us who are trying to maintain YOUR freedoms are often accused of being with the terrists.

I just thought a little inspirational poetry about courage would be nice.

Now do YOU understand the situation?

I stand by Kipling. Please consider same.

[pkohan]

I think a great stump speech by any (or all) Democratic candidate(s) should be given using the theme: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid." What that means is if you vote to put a Democratic President in the White House and shore up the Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House in 2008, then it will signal a new era of respect for people to express themselves freely, to be able to criticize openly, and to not be called out like a pariah, but to be embraced for putting into practice the promises inherent in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

What an optimistic message - what an obvious message - to deliver in an era marked by fear and complacency. Be the candidate who wants to hear the voices of the people. Be the candidate who says "universal healthcare is just the right thing to do" or "we ratchet up Gulf Coast hurricane recovery on Day 1 of my Administration" or "predatory lending practices stop on my watch" or "America can have a competitive manufacturing sector again" and that candidate will win the hearts and minds of voters.

[wm1066]

I picked up your book and thought I could read it in one sitting, it looked small and I quickly got about half way before I got scared as hell by what you wrote. Now I am reading about a page a day so I can try to remain calm.
Keep up the fight....y­ou are fearless!
I lived through Nixon and this is much worse.

[powkat]

Whenever there is a change in the contortions required to board a plane the local news channels go out to the airport and 'interview' passengers. The response is always the same: 'I don't mind because it keeps us safe.' 'I'm sure it's necessary to keep us safe.' 'We can't let the bad guys win.' And on and on. Just once I'd like to hear someone say what I would say, "Are you kidding? This is the country that went from a virtually non-existant space program to a man on the moon in 11 years. Taking off your shoes and not being allowed water or shampoo is designed to keep people scared, not protect them. It's been 6 years since 9/11 - if the government wanted to make air travel safe there would be systems and machines that would not require long lines and abuse by people who are more apt to steal your jewelry than catch a suicide bomber.'

But of course, I'd never fly again.

[BuffNutts]

We're all just about to be boiled little frogs with no where to jump.

What is our recourse when duly elected representatives shun their responsiblities and believe words to be action?

Maybe we could use a thousand more Feingolds. It wouldn't hurt.

[transendentilist]

Thanks Buff! My feelings exactly. Russ Feingold is the type of representitive that is sorely lacking in America today. It's too bad he won't run for prez. I have sometimes thought that the best man for the job, is someone who doesn't want it. No pandering, no back room deals, nothing outside the Constitution of the United States. In a perfect world, hey?

[Where is Jesus?]

True. Any candidates who really want to stand up and take this on will inexplicably die before they ever get close to election time. This machine is not going to let anyone person stand who tries to stop them. That is why it will take a whole nation of brave patriots to stand up to this treason.

It should be made loud and clear to all congress people that if they are not willing to protect the citizens of this country, they will be voted out of office and only those who will commit to ending this tyranny will be voted in!

I worry that it may already be too late. That we are in store for what the people of Nazi Germany went through, because they were not willing to see the truth. Having said that, it is because of the history of Nazi Germany that we all should see what is happening to us. If we allow it to stand, we will only have ourselves and our willingness to remain in fear to blame.

[Boyaca]

It is funny you know. An awful lot of people, from outside your country, could see where the US was headed a long long time ago.A reading of the "House of War" by James Carroll would bring all of you Johnny come latelys up to date with what the rest of the world was talking about 50 years ago. You have been taken over by the fasists in your society all right, but it did not happen just in the Bush years. How can you all forget Macarthy, Nixon, et all. The atomic bombing of Japan opened the gates of hell and the militarists were let out of their cages. Now you are all getting a taste of what really is in store for you.

[transendentilist]

And just where do you live? I don't want your address, just tell me what country?

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Huzzah.

(P.S. Time to update the bio to include "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.")