If it's true that we get the government we deserve, then a lot of Americans must have been very, very bad.
The American central government has gotten drunk on power, overwhelming all its citizens with a glut of needless debt, unjust wars, draconian laws, and an ominous new generation of "police" who look less like Andy Griffith and more like a military incursion from some macabre Orwellian nightmare.
The founders of the United States — including my ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence — foresaw the dangers we now face, and they gave us tools that were intended to protect us from the horrors we are now experiencing. They enshrined these protections in law — in the Bill of Rights — and these protections are now being trampled upon by the government officials who are entrusted with upholding them.
The United States Government has traumatized its own people, terrorizing them to the point of inactive stupor, herding them into a slavish state of compliance to a sadistic government that cares nothing for their souls, their lives, or their future.
The excuses have been many. Claiming threats from terrorism, pandemics, drugs, and the environment, our handlers in Washington have taken acid to the Constitution, all in the name of protecting "national security" and keeping all of us "safe".
Militarized police, government surveillance, body scanners, armed drones, vaccine mandates, lockdowns . . . Is there any reasonable person who would consider these things to be compatible with the Bill of Rights, rather than being a blatant and direct nullification of them?
The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to speak freely, protest peacefully, assemble publicly, and to openly critique the government. According to the law, the government has no authority to silence the people. Yet this law is constantly trampled by the American Government itself.
The more that people speak out against corrupt practices, the more visciously they are attacked. Journalists are prosecuted for blowing the whistle on government corruption, responsible citizens are arrested for filming police officers involved in abusive practices, and peaceful protestors are beaten and imprisoned, merely because they dare to challenge the almighty establishment.
The Second Amendment says that citizens have a right to "keep and bear arms". This was not intended merely to protect the rights of hunters. This was meant to give citizens the ability to resist governmental tyranny. When the Bill of Rights was written, citizens could effectively defend themselves from the government, because they had access to the same weapons used by the government. Today, citizens are virtually neutralized through draconian gun restrictions, even while police and government agencies are armed with military-grade weapons. If an innocent citizen has registered weapon with a ten round magazine, locked away in a gun safe, what sort of defense will that provide against a midnight SWAT team raid?
The Third Amendment prohibits military from entering the homes of Americans, unless the homeowners freely consent. America's founders were careful to keep the military oriented towards America's enemies — not towards its citizens. Yet today, since American police forces are becoming heavily weaponized with military-grade equipment (including gear that is prohibited for American citizens), more and more they begin to resemble a standing army on American soil — a danger which the nation's founders warned us to avoid.
The Fourth Amendment forbids the government from inspecting your body or your personal property, unless they already have evidence that you are committing a crime. Yet today, multiple government agencies are allowed to perform invasive surveillance, intrusions of privacy, and in some cases even strip searches of private citizens, even without evidence of criminal activity.
The Fifth Amendment creates a number of rights relevant to both criminal and civil legal proceedings. In criminal cases, the Fifth Amendment guarantees the right to a grand jury and protects against self-incrimination. Yet in the new American surveillance state, all of your private emails, voicemails, and text messages are up for grabs, compelling you to incriminate yourself before you even know you are in danger.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of defendants, including the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to a speedy trial. Today, actual criminals accused of second degree murder are quickly released back on the street. Yet the government mercilessly punishes citizens who dissent, locking up peaceful protestors in harsh conditions, denying them bail, keeping them imprisoned for extremely long periods of time without granting any trial.
The Seventh Amendment says that citizens are to receive a trial by jury. And the modern American government works overtime to ensure that everyone is controlled by fear, so enslaved to propaganda that many are barely able to function in a fair and impartial manner. Washington doesn't want people who can think. It wants mindless masses trudging along in lockstep with the ruling regime.
The Eighth Amendment supposedly protects the rights of the accused, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. But who in DC gets to determine the definition of "cruel and unusual"? The same generous souls who emptied churches, shut down businesses, and implemented a nationwide covid lockdown? The same gentle rulers who locked up peaceful Capitol protestors for months, while turning a blind eye to the crowds that rioted and set our cities on fire throughout the summer? The same merciful folks who just instigated FBI raids on dozens of citizens, merely because they happend to support politicians wearing red hats? If the current regime gets to determine what constitues the boundaries of just punishment, I shudder to imagine the horrors to follow.
The Ninth and Tenth Amendments state that any rights and powers not specified in the Constitution are retained by the states and by the people. In other words, the American federal government is forbidden to exercise any powers not explicitly granted in the Constitution. With years of government overreach, Washington has revealed just how seriously it disdains these amendments. Having lost any discernable conscience, and forgetting its responsibility to the people it was originally intended to serve, the federal government sets itself up like a god, considering its own agenda to be superior to all other concerns.
At every turn, the federal government is hellbent on expanding its powers, even if that means writing off the Bill of Rights as collateral damage and as a casualty of war.
America has gone downhill, losing its liberties and freedoms, looking more and more like the former Soviet Union in many cringeworthy ways. Do not assume that waiting will make things better. Do not assume that the federal government will give back to the people that which it has already stolen.
Two options remain. Either flee or fight. Either come up with a plan of action to take your country back, driving the Deep State puppeteers back to hell where they came from, or else cut your losses and get out of Dodge while you can. Both paths require decisive action, and both paths involve pain. Choose one. Don't go downhill with the masses who refuse to question the narrative. It is not possible to sleep your way to victory.