Letter to the Editor of local paper

This was written in March of 2008 to the Gilroy Dispatch, the local newspaper--it was never printed/published....
I wanted to comment on the current political environment that has far too many people living in fear and unnecessary anxiety due to a planned agenda set forth by our current administration residing in Washington. Ben Anderson’s recent column about a “missing” woman addresses this subject a bit but I feel more information is needed at this time.
Apparently, in this day and age of over-hyped terror and fear permeating our every thought and action, the “disappearance” was labeled and treated as if a crime had occurred by the local Sheriff’s department. Does Sheriff Hill feel vindication will only come if an arrest is made? If any resources are spent by his department investigating a citizen’s concern does that automatically mean there has to be a ‘victim’ and hence a ‘suspect/criminal’ as well? Isn’t this the general idea of our Criminal Justice System? The pressure is always on to ‘recoup’ the expenses necessary to operate their rudderless, mislabeled ‘rehabilitation’ system while maintaining the draconian methods that perpetuate many of the problems existing today.
I read somewhere that law enforcements’ general code was to “serve and protect”. I also thought the President’s goal was essentially the same: unfortunately both institutions have been severely compromised by the current stream of negative and vindictive fear-based statements spilling out of the White House for the last six years. These tactics of filling the headlines with diversionary diatribe in order to suppress the cautionary statements made by intelligent and concerned citizens and agencies have ruefully disrupted major portions of our so-called Democratic way of life. What used to be taken for granted is now treated as suspicious and even, dare I say undemocratic activity. Is it so wrong for someone to speak out against injustice? Whether or not that injustice is performed by your own government or another individual it is more of a crime to remain silent and do nothing than to strive to correct, instruct, inform and work to change the problem.
Unfortunately, 9/11 was systematically created as the ultimate diversion and hence the resulting smokescreen proved thick enough to suppress even the most liberal politicians’ cry for logic, forethought and reasoning in the subsequent months and years that have followed. This same attitude of ‘act first, think later’ has permeated the thought process of many local governments as well. The major difference between the two levels is that the Neo-cons running the Big picture have a One-World Order envisioned and almost every step they take involves cold-hearted calculation (except for exit strategies—but I think that was by design as well…) while at the local level, the reaction is actually reactionary but still guided and condoned by the White House Hypocrites.
Which brings me full-circle back to my original point of contention: I fully support and endorse Mr. Anderson’s assessment of our failure, as citizens, to question why we are allowing our liberties and freedoms to be stricken away by those elected to carry out our best’ interests.