Fearing our government

 

 

"At what point in time in our recent history has our government been working against us rather than for us?"

It is now day 2 of the infamous Jade Helm 15 exercise. The internet, as well as YouTube, continues to sparkle with hundreds, maybe thousands of postings warning us about the evil intentions of JH 15. How people will be interned. How guns will be confiscated. How our liberties will be snatched from us. By whom? By special forces within our military.

Last night when I was replaying the day, this thought came to me. I know our Framers always wanted us to be wary of our government. They wanted us to be wary as it could easily get out of control. But when did many of our citizens actually start to fear our government? Fear our military? Believe that our military could be turned against citizens rather than protecting them? Call me naïve, but I am one who believes that never could happen. But there are many today who believe otherwise.

I guess for those who wonder if our government is on our side, if our government is in control of its Constitutional purpose and charter, need look no further than Lois Lerner. This person, who many of us think is lower than whale dung, turned the awesome power of the IRS against citizens she did not agree with. She tried to turn the IRS into an instrument of mass destruction, bent of financially destroying and silencing law abiding citizens. And as of today, she still walks our streets, free as a bird, getting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars in retirement.

Or what about the NSA? Our government has turned it against OUR citizens instead of using it to counter foreign threats. Today, many believe every time they make a phone call, send an e-mail, visit a web page, anything electronic, Big Brother out in Bluffdale, Utah will intercept and store it. Many wonder at what point in time did our intelligence agencies such as the NSA, start working against us rather than for us?

It all starts at the top. Our government, created of the people, and by the people, and for the people, has now become simply above the people. It is secretive, clandestine and often times untrustworthy. Just today, there was an article in the paper about last summer's downtown night time invasion of the black helicopters. The article stated brass in the Pentagon were pissed off at city leaders because they raised such a fuss. That they could not control the masses, the citizens. Hello? This is an American city made up of citizens. Most are law abiding. We are not at war within our country. Having black helicopters buzzing our cities after dark is unacceptable. Period. Unless of course, the Pentagon had prior consent of the citizenry to do so.

How do we regain trust in our government? So we don't fear them? First off, just like in a relationship, trust is earned. Hard to gain, easy to lose. Until we can start trusting our government again, everything will be looked upon with a jaundiced eye. Military exercises, treaty agreements, taxes, whatever.

I will tell our government the same thing most of us have told our kids when they were growing up. If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. It is as simple as that.