Rule by Thieves: One Week in the Life of the American Kleptocracy

Guest Post by John W. Whitehead

“The first and most important thing to understand about politics is this: forget Right, Left, Center, socialism, fascism, or democracy. Every government that exists — or ever existed, or ever will exist — is a kleptocracy, meaning ‘rule by thieves.’” — Author L. Neil Smith

The American kleptocracy (a government ruled by thieves) continues to suck the American people down a rabbit hole into a parallel universe in which the Constitution is meaningless, the government is all-powerful, and the citizenry is powerless to defend itself against government agents who steal, spy, lie, plunder, kill, abuse and generally inflict mayhem and sow madness on everyone and everything in their sphere.

Case in point: in the same week that Wikileaks dropped its bombshell about the CIA’s use of spy tools to subject law-abiding Americans to all manner of government surveillance and hacking—a revelation that caused barely a ripple of concern among the citizenry—the government quietly and with little fanfare continued to wage its devastating, stomach-churning, debilitating war on the American people.

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Incredibly, hardly anyone noticed.

This begs the question: if the government is overstepping its authority, abusing its power, and disregarding the rule of law but no one seems to notice—and no one seems to care—does it matter if the government has become a tyrant?

Here’s my short answer: when government wrongdoing ceases to matter, America will have ceased to be.

Just consider the devastation wrought in one week in the life of our American kleptocracy:

On Monday, March 6, police were given the go-ahead to keep stealing from Americans who were innocent of any wrongdoing.

In refusing to hear a challenge to Texas’ asset forfeiture law, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas police to keep $201,000 in ill-gotten cash primarily on the basis that the seized cash—the proceeds of a home sale—was being transported on a highway associated with illegal drug trade, despite any proof of illegal activity by the owner.

On Tuesday, March 7, hacked information about the surveillance state was met with a collective shrug by the public, a sign of how indifferent the citizenry has become to living in an electronic concentration camp.

According to the Wikileaks Vault 7 data dump, government agencies such as the CIA and the NSA have been spying on the citizenry through our smart TVs, listening in on our phone calls, hacking into our computerized devices (including our cars), and compromising our security systems through the use of Trojan horses, spyware and malware.

On Wednesday, March 8, police were given further incentives to use the “fear for my life” rationale as an excuse for shooting unarmed individuals.

An Alabama police officer shot a driver exiting his car, mistakenly believing the wallet in his hand to be a gun. Although the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded “that a reasonable officer … would have feared for his life,” the video footage makes clear that the courts continue to march in lockstep with the police, because no reasonable person would shoot first and ask questions later.

On Thursday, March 9, police were given even more leeway in how much damage they can inflict on those they serve and the extent to which they can disregard the Constitution.  

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a police officer who allowed a police dog to maul a homeless man innocent of any wrongdoing. Incredibly, not only did the court declare that the police officer was protected by qualified immunity, which incentivizes government officials to violate constitutional rights without fear of repercussion, but it had the nerve to suggest that being mauled by a police dog is the equivalent of a lawful stop in which police may stop and hold a person for questioning.

On Friday, March 10, the military industrial complex continued to wage war abroad, while government agencies, including members of the military, remained embroiled in controversies over sexual misconduct.

A day after military brass defended the U.S.-led raid in Yemen that killed 10 children and at least six women, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, informed members of Congress that even more U.S. troops were needed in Afghanistan to combat the Taliban.

That same day, news reports indicated that members of several branches of the U.S. military, including the Marines, have been using online bulletin boards to either share or solicit nude or explicit photos and videos of women in the military.

The FBI has also been getting in on the photo-sharing gig, only its agents have been distributing child porn, allegedly in an effort to catch consumers of child porn. As part of its Operation Pacifier sting, the FBI became a lawbreaker itself as the largest distributor of child pornography.

Mind you, this was just one week of shootings, degradation, excessive force, abuse of power and complicity in the American police state. Magnify the impact of these events 52 times over, because they are taking place every week in this country, and you will find yourself weak at the knees.

Somewhere over the course of the past 240-plus years, democracy has given way to kleptocracy, and representative government has been rejected in favor of rule by career politicians, corporations and thieves—individuals and entities with little regard for the rights of American citizens.

Our freedoms have become casualties in an all-out war on the American people.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, this war is being fought on many fronts, with bullets and tasers, with surveillance cameras and license readers, with intimidation and propaganda, with court rulings and legislation, with the collusion of every bureaucrat on the government’s payroll, and most effectively of all, with the complicity of the American people, who continue to allow themselves to be easily manipulated by their politics, distracted by their pastimes, and acclimated to a world in which government corruption is the norm.

How do we stop the hemorrhaging?

Start by waking up. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Most of all, think for yourself.

As H. L. Mencken observed, “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself… Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable.”

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TrickleUpPolitics
TrickleUpPolitics

You mistake our silence about the spying as assent when in fact we are weary of outrage after 8 years of outrage under Obama. The Wikileaks dump tells us that nothing has changed but we are heartened by the fact that the CIA will be deprived of its advantage by using these tools going forward since everyone else will have them too. We also know that there is nothing we can do about it ourselves. We elected Trump and we are hoping we drains the swamp. Getting out into the streets looking as ridiculous as the Left is not an option. A lot of us actually have jobs.

Ticky Toc
Ticky Toc

Trump is draining diddly. He is pro asset forfeiture in fact just a couple weeks ago while meeting with a sheriff the sheriff was complaining of a lawmaker who was against the practice – Trump wanted to know the person’s name so he could quote ruin their career. His AG pick Jeff Sessions first act was to reinstate the use of private prisons (for profit incarceration of the citizenry). Jeff Sessions and the Trump administration has signaled that they intend to enforce federal drug laws against states that have VOTED to legalize marijuana. President Trump in his address to Congress 2 weeks ago vowed to increase the MIC budget. President Trump as recently as last week ordered combat troops (regular – not SF’s) into Syria uninvited, which can only constitute an invasion and thus an act of war.

Trump has conned you and the American people – Meet the new boss the same as the old boss.

Dennis Roe
Dennis Roe

America died with Kennedy, shot in the head. We’re in Orwelland. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.

CCRider
CCRider

You’re exactly right Dennis. If they could kill him in front of our incredulous eyes and get away with it they would stop at nothing. It was a watershed event. I was 13 at the time and believed in “my” government heart and soul. Once the truth really set in on me in the early 80’s I would never trust “them” again. Knew about the Pearl Harbor raid in advance? RFK and MLK state assassinations? Faked moon landing? 9/11 inside job? You bet. They’re capable of all of it.

If the people are ever going to rebel I believe it will happen following a financial crisis. If the currency goes broke and I lose all that I have worked for my whole life and left destitute in my old age I will go postal. And if they kill me at that point I won’t mind. At least I let the Bastards know I was on to them.

Miles Long
Miles Long

Heh… dont mess with old people. They have little to lose.

Anon
Anon

I agree that the author is mistaking silence with collusion. Listen, the American revolution was a paltry 3% of the population of the colonies. Most humans unfortunately have a large threshold of pain. If this was not the case, North Korea would have fallen a long time ago. Right now, the bad guys (Government, Corporates, Kleptocrats) have the upper hand. WE have allowed that, however the internet, and blogs like this are slowly turning the tide. They still have the guns, IRS and 3 letter agencies, and most mere mortals do not have the resources to hit these people head on. We just avoid them.
There are VERY few folks I am aware of that were surprised by the Vault 7 revelations. I, and similar thinking folks have figured this was happening for a while, and simply lived accordingly. All Vault 7 did is confirm what we already knew. The ratings of the MSM have been going down in earnest for years now. The election coverage and the Russia stuff was just another confirmation of what most thinking people already knew. And notice the NFL ratings lately? What about the Oscars? It looks to me that our side is getting a lot more converts, and more red pills are getting consumed. Good on all of those things. As was posted above, just because people are not rioting in the streets (mostly as most of my friends are too busy working for a living and getting out of debt) does not mean we are blind to what is going on. Instead of making a bunch of noise (like libtards at Berkeley) we simply step out of the way, and let the goons trip on their own feet when possible, and avoid the fallout zone. Eventually, it may come to direct contact, of which (at least I) am prepared for, but right now, I would say let the Government, Debt ridden sheeple, Authoritarians, corps, etc. all fall on their own sword, then let nature take its course. There is a time for everything, when critical mass is right for a new way, but you must allow those with the upper hand (now) to trip and fall on the sword first before going in for the kill shot.

Barney
Barney

Now THAT is a constitutional lawyer, unlike the bath house Kenyan

Boat Guy
Boat Guy

Knowing and also being aware of the cost personally remember the Thomas Jefferson quote regarding putting up with government action that gradually becomes intolerable ! Let us not forget the risk reward the true person of reason and thought will conclude in our country today . We tolerate a great deal because the power to stop government injustice is to pervasive of a leviathan to combat with any hope to succeed ! Intelligent people know the problem but are crippled to act effectively against it .
The small state I live in has over 240 police agencies from local state and federal and as you mentioned all backed by a court system and funded with confiscated funds from asset forfeiture and of course the “voluntary tax system” and all prepared in most situations to crush your face and ruin your life to continue the benefits they reap from the system , you know “JUST DOING MY JOB” bull shit ! Where is a Nuremberg court when we need it !

Ed
Ed

Here, BG. !!!!!!!!!!! Reload.

Boat Guy
Boat Guy

Speed loaders , plenty of clips ! Invest in precious metals lead & brass !

Robert E. Moran

Waking up is the key with better education as the mechanism to make it happen. George Carlin was right, the real owners of the country don’t people capable of critical thinking because if they did, this horrible situation would never had started in the first place.

Suzanna
Suzanna

All comments are excellent.
Everything relevant was said.

Thank you Mr. Whitehead,
for your persistence and your dedication to making
us ever more aware.

Ed
Ed

Court rulings tend to reinforce my opinion that a judge is just a fucking lawyer who blew a politician.

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