Last night I watched the documentary “The End of America,” based on Naomi Wolf’s 2007 book by the same name. The film follows Wolf on a lecture tour through which she draws a parallel between the steps used by Hitler, Mussolini, and other brutal dictators to erode the democratic process, stripping citizens of all rights – and the policy changes made during the Bush administration. Using the ten steps outlined by Wolf:
- Create an internal/external threat that terrorizes the populace.
- Create secret prisons, with torture.
- Create a paramilitary force.
- Single out ordinary citizens as ‘troublesome persons.’
- Establish surveillance of citizens’ groups and ordinary citizens deemed ‘troublesome.’
- Detain and release citizens without formally charging them with any crime.
- Target key individuals who are well known, popular figures.
- Restrict the press.
- Redefine dissent as treason
- Subvert the rule of law.
directors Rick Stern and Anne Sundberg weave together Wolf’s lecture with archival footage, documents, and interviews to make the case that America’s Constitution was being dismantled under George W. Bush.
Fast-forward four years: the Obama administration has not only upheld the majority of the changes made to undermine our civil liberties during Bush’s reign, it’s now supporting additional measures that are moving the country on a path towards a Totalitarian state. The latest infraction being the decision not to veto the National Defense Authorization Act that will allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens without a trial or hearing.
With every act such as this, it becomes clearer and clearer who the real terrorists are … the question is will Americans stop this erosion of our rights before we become a full-blown Nazi Germany.
