Soap Box

George Orwell's novel, 1984, was first published in 1949. Dystopian in nature, it is set in a world of perpetual war where individual freedom, thought and speech are forbidden by a monolithic central government known as Big Brother which makes it their business to keep close tabs and suffocating control on the citizens.

The book had such an impact that a new word was created, �Orwellian,� which encompassed all the suppression and overreach of an all-powerful government with the ability to spy on all its citizens and "Big Brother" became a catch phrase to describe such a government.

1984 was, I think, viewed as a futuristic warning, an omen of the evil of a paranoid, power drunk government, feared, but basically relegated to the Neverland reaches of the mind, wary, but unable to conceive a federation with the control and resources to bring such fantastic evil to fruition.

Well friends and neighbors, 1984 has arrived, even if it�s a few decades behind schedule. Amongst the gaggle of alphabet federal antonyms, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc., at the ultra-secret sites and amid the �Star Wars� technologies and super computers, the power exists to spy on every citizen in this nation simultaneously and continuously.

Every phone call, every email, every internet transaction, everything said on a phone or transmitted over the web is accessible to our government.

It's a frightening thought, isn't it?

Well, let me tell you an even more frightening one. There are people who almost offhandedly ignore the laws that govern the collection and dissemination of such information and pass it to those who would use it for a political advantage.

Recent events have brought to light the existence of a shadowy world where morality is nonexistent and the law of the land is nothing more than a suggestion. A world where the people at the top can use this technology and those who operate it to listen in on conversations, view the most intimate and business sensitive emails.

If America is to survive as a free country and stay out of the clutches of those who would like nothing better than bring about a "Big Brother" type of government, drastic steps must be taken immediately, heads must roll, prison sentences must be passed out, names must be exposed and safeguards put in place to protect America and Americans from those who think laws are only for the common man and can be broken at will by the powerful.

I don't know where this will lead and it's too early to even imagine how high it could go, but from the early indications it could lead to and seriously shake the highest political power in this land.

Wherever it leads, this trail must be pursued to the bitter end, nobody protected from scrutiny, the law applied to the perpetrators who passed the information, those who leaked it and those who intended to use it to their advantage, no matter how high up.

The implications of this sordid flaunting of the law are almost beyond comprehension, the thought that nobody is safe from surveillance for no good reason at the whim of someone with access to the information.

There is a lot of talk these days about having a special prosecutor to look into the affairs of those accused of wrong doing. In my book, if anything merits a special prosecutor, this flagrant abuse of the law and the violation of the faith of the people of this nation definitely does.

Chop the block and it could be really interesting to see where the chips fall.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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