"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be."
—Thomas Jefferson
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
—Johann W. von Goethe
Darren Weeks
Coalition to Govern America
May 25, 2020 — Memorial Day
After 9/11, we were told that we had to allow our experts in government broad powers to engage in endless wars against questionable targets. Those questionable targets had done bad things to America because they hated us for our freedom. Hence, our soldiers were fighting an expensive and open-ended war for that freedom. We made those questionable targets suffer and die because we are Americans! We are free!
We allowed unaccountable, unelected, unknown entities in dark buildings with no windows, and unlimited black budgets, to snoop on our private communications. We looked the other way when they read our e-mails, text messages, listened to our calls, set up secret courts and torture centers where they took people they kidnapped from foreign countries to interrogate them in an "enhanced" manner. It didn't bother us because these kidnapped people were all trying to hurt us. Our government experts told us that. We believe our government. We love our experts. They don't lie to us. We don't like people that hurt us. Our government will protect us from the people that want to hurt us. We're Americans! We are free!
Our government friends stressed to us the importance of X-raying our bodies so that socially awkward airport uniforms could see our privates and grope them at will. This was needed so that jihadists, with names we cannot pronounce, from places we cannot find on a map, wouldn't use our grannies to smuggle bombs in shoes on passenger jets. We don't like bombs on passenger jets. We like to be safe. We're Americans! We are free!
No one wants to die in a terrorist attack, except for the evil jihadists who we didn't understand, and had no desire to learn about, but who we feared were coming for our freedom. We, therefore, had to give up some of that freedom for safety. We didn't mind. We are Americans. We are reasonable.
From 2001 to 2020, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Iraq to Syria, from Al Qaida, to the Taliban, from the Taliban to ISIS, the groups changed, the bodies piled up, the trillions in war debt mounted. But we showed those jihadists! Even though the brilliant minds of our government experts had to pay the jihadists to fight each other and our soldiers, we showed them! We are free! We are Americans. Hoorah!
Today, we are observing Memorial Day. The flags are flying at half staff on this day, set aside to mourn for soldiers who died for our freedom. We must "honor the fallen" for their heroic sacrifice whose bloodshed purchased liberation from tyranny and oppressive government. We don't like tyranny and oppressive government. We're Americans. We fought a revolution some time ago, way in the past, against the British who were trying to enslave us. We showed those British! We are free!
Past Memorial Days featured family barbecues, get-togethers, pool parties, and public fireworks displays to celebrate life and the freedoms we enjoy. There was happiness, laughter, and a social closeness that made us smile and feel good. We like to smile. We like to feel good. We're Americans.
There will be no social closeness this year. Family barbecues, get-togethers, pool parties, public fireworks displays, trips to the beach, hair cuts, weddings, happiness, laughter, and worshipping God at church are all banned. People that get together are selfish. Visiting family is reckless and thoughtless. We must not leave the house, or we will be fined or jailed. We must not open our businesses, or we will be fined and prosecuted. We must turn murderers and thieves loose to make room for all of the new foolhardy offenders. We must turn in our neighbors if we see an extra car in their driveway. This is justice. Americans love justice. We are Americans. We are free.
The only place we can go is to the grocery store, where we can only buy what is permitted to be sold. We must smother ourselves with a mask so that we can't breathe. If we are allowed to breathe, we might inhale a virus. We don't like viruses. We will show that virus! We will insult and lampoon each other. We will yell and scream at anyone we see that goes outside without smothering themselves with a mask. They are selfish and stupid for wanting to breathe. We will yell at children in the park. We will tell them that we hope they die from a virus, because they wanted to play outside with their friends. We are adults. We are smart. We are Americans.
We will await for highly-trained experts to knock on our door and forcefully collect our DNA. We will beg for, and eagerly anticipate being injected with a mystery fluid that will protect us from a virus that kills less than one percent of the people it infects, and from which the overwhelming majority of us will never have any symptoms, or knowledge we got it. Because some people got sick, we must all shut down our lives, destroy our economy, and become hungry and poor. Our phones will monitor, trace, and track us, to notify our experts that we are in danger. Everyone with whom we come into contact must be tested, traced, and tracked, so that we can be dragged out of our houses and into detention camps. It's for our safety. We like safety. We like to comply. We like to obey. We are Americans. We are free!
