Thought Criminal

"Free speech" is gone. It is understandable that there are reasonable limits - a person can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater without dire consequences but the paranoia and fear that exists now is insane and nothing like the obvious problem of the theater full of people. Whatever a person says here will be stored somewhere. If someone says things that people in power do not like and consider threatening, they will be watched if their statements are found in a search. Certain things people may say will get them arreseted and thrown in jail. When I went to gradeschool in the 50s we were taught that we lived in a free country. . . and I believed it. My father and mother both fought in WWII, my uncle was killed in WWII, I am a vietnam era vet, and so is my brother. Still, the wrong words will get me on a "watch list" or arrested. If I question the President - I am branded as "unpatriotic". There is confusion between the concept of "President", and the "Presidency". These concepts have been bastardized by zealous politicians. The president is a person, questioning that person's judegment is not questioning the nation or the nation's governmental system or society or rule of law. Look, its my freakin job to question the President - its everyone's job to question the President and all authority exercised by others - and make changes in a civilized, nonviolent dialogue. That is the basis of a representitive democracy. I thought we lived in one. Never in my wildest nightmares did I think this country would be in this situation - after all we have been through. Somebody, please wake me up! Until then I must watch very closely what I say. Even if I am only expressing my feelings and have no intention whatsoever of acting on them it makes no difference. Big Brother IS watching us now. What's next, the thought police . . . count on it.