Why are we having this discussion?

A concept that is very useful in understanding politics is this: Individuals behave in one way, but groups of individuals in another. A group has characteristics quite apart from the individuals that make up that group. The key understanding that came out of group dynamics in the early twentieth century was that group behavior could be manipulated even as the individuals within the group were not aware of it.

That’s a large part of what advertising does – to identify groups and manipulate them. Political advertising is no different – group manipulation. When you hear a phrase like “soccer mom” or “NASCAR dad,” you are hearing the results of intense study of our society so that the advertising agencies that work for candidates know how to fine-tune their work. Advertising works, and the most discouraging part for me is that there is no connection between behavior of office holders once elected and the advertising that got them elected. Once the campaign is over, the office holders go back to work for their employers, the people who financed their campaigns. The public goes back to sleep.

Group dynamics is so advanced now that anything can be sold to us under the right conditions. 9/11 was an orchestrated event, a self-inflicted wound. It induced a mass psychosis, and thereafter any poison could be sold to us to salve our wound. Without knowing the inside wisdom, it is easy to see that never-ending war was a big part of the objective, as was passage of the USAPATRIOT ACT, which essentially repealed the Bill of Rights.

Over eleven years later, we have not recovered. We’re a little calmer now, the anger has somewhat subsided, but the wound has not healed. Consequently, we witnessed this week a discussion about whether or not the executive can kill Americans with drones. Here’s what Eric Holder had to say to Senator Rand Paul:

It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question:”Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?” The answer to that question is NO.

If you are looking, there are devils in the details there. Lots of them.

But the most distressing aspect of all of this is that we are even having this discussion. The country is not threatened, there are no terrorists lurking among us, we are safe to walk about, get on airplanes without having our balls and boobs scanned, or even walk through a “dangerous” neighborhood. Terrorism is virtually nonexistent, and crime magnified far beyond proportion by the TV tube.

There is a threat: This blog post, along with millions of others written today, will pass through a computer at NSA or some other location, perhaps even here in Denver. It will be noted that the words “9/11” and “USAPATRIOT” appeared, and it will be cataloged away under my name in some massive database. No human eyes will glance upon it in this process, but should there ever be a need to jail or harass me, a quick search will produce this and many other blog posts, Facebook entries and private emails. I am in no danger, but if ever I became a matter of concern, the information about me has already been captured. That in hand, my credit cards can be switched off, my passport cancelled, and TSA can stop me from getting on even a domestic flight. We are living under tyranny. We just don’t feel it because we do not threaten the overlords. But if we ever do …

I am not a terrorist or a threat to anyone, but use of the word “terrorist” in this sentence also flags the post. This is going on now for all of us as computers are so powerful, and USAPATRIOT is in force. It’s all of us. We are in a National Security State, and are under constant surveillance even as our society is in no danger.

But there is a danger. It is the shadow government that pulled off 9/11. They are the reason why we are having a public debate about executive murder. That debate always goes on in private. Hundreds of thousands of people have been quietly murdered over the years by governments, here and in every country. Just on example, Operation PHOENIX, in Vietnam: CIA murdered an estimated 40,000 people, never having to answer to one judge or family member.

It is not that – it’s always been that way. Countries are sausage factories, and ruthless psychopaths usually find a way to the positions of leverage. But it is the fact that the debate is going on in the open that should concern us. The fact that it does not concern most people is the psychosis that still exists due to 9/11. Of all the people on this planet, we have the least to fear from “terrorists,” “criminals” and the like. People living in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia and Venezuela have plenty to fear – the US.

And yet we are the most frightened of fake boogeymen while hardly aware of the real ones. That’s scary.