Perhaps the reason why they treat us like criminals is because we are. When I say “we,” I mean the collective “we.” (The “we” that encompasses the members of our government.)

It’s kind of like the old cheating theory. People who get all strung out and worried that their significant other is cheating on them are usually the ones who have actually done the cheating. In the same way, our government might be responding to “threats of terrorism” with paranoia because maybe they perpetrated the terrorist acts themselves…

But that’s just “conspiracy theory,” right? George W. Bush warned us all not to believe in those… in fact, I think he may have coined the phrase himself… which is a little strange if you think about it.

There already have been “leaks” out there to suggest these theories are correct. The problem is that Americans are either in denial and don’t want to believe that their own leaders would betray them, or they’re heeding the warning of “dubya.” Bad idea, IMO…

One day the truth will come to light. And I think we will ALL be surprised in one way or another. History always repeats itself though.

I do think the government is continually trying to increase their control over the average citizen. How much of this is out of a concern for safety versus some type of gain remains to be seen. I know people who are ok with these privacy violations because it helps to make us safer. Including one guy who was a marine a later a cop.

Regardless of the intentions, I think we both agree that this is a bad path our country is taking. I read 1984 too. Some see this as a sign as spelled out in the Bible. I’m not in that camp, but I do know that stripping people of their rights for their own safety is a bad thing, and has lead to bad things both past and present.

At some point something will probably change though. Our government is too inept to move things in the right direction, it always requires a push to move things along. There are not as many complacent Americans as there once was, now with the onslaught on online media outlets connecting people on computers, phones, etc. At some point something will happen, and changes will take place, but who knows how and what those changes will be.

If you doubt that, flip your history book about 40-50 years ago (and further) to the Civil Rights Movement. Our new security tactics are reminding me more and more of what had to be changed back then. The main differences now are technology, and the claim that they don’t discriminate, they hold equal that all Americans are terrorists. Absurdity, I know.

Security only works if you involve all in the process of providing their own security. Treating citizens as criminals is about as opposite of that as you can get.

I’m still proud of being an American, and I believe at its core America is still a great country. However, if we continue to lose focus on the ideals that made us great in the first place, we will continue our downward trend until we all end up having to speak Chinese in order just to get a job at the local ??? (McDonald’s).

But the more and more our government seems to strip away our rights in the name of “security” (which as you say actually makes us less secure), the more I start to believe in these so-called “conspiracies.” It makes sense, after all, far-fetched or not. “Terrorism” drives fear into the hearts of people, not just politicians – which is why there is still an overwhelming majority of people who are willing to comply with these body scans. Fear = more government control. The government gets enough control and the people are left with no control over their own lives. Isn’t that how Hitler rose to power? Call me crazy but if this crap keeps up, we’re gonna end up with another holocaust on our hands, right in our own country, and it’s gonna happen so quickly that we’re not even going to know what hit us until we’re all brain dead.

Screw security. Security is for people who don’t have enough trust in their Creator to know that everything’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to. If that means I end up crashing into a building because someone put a bomb in their shampoo bottle, then so be it. Does that sound messed up? Well, I’m okay with that… People thought Jesus was crazy too.