On September 17, 1787, the Unites States Constitution was adopted by our Founding Fathers. With imperial Great Britain on their minds, they decided to create a government on the basis of democracy, a government that Abraham Lincoln, one hundred years later, described as, “Of the people, for the people and by the people”. The constitution, with the Bill of Rights, was laid down as the supreme law of the land. It was a form of checks and balances to make sure that no one would be able to chip away at the foundations of democracy. Yet almost three hundred years later it seems our political system is doing just that. The notion of “The separation of Church and State”, no longer applies to today’s politicians. Laws that complete defy the Constitution are being passed, but the Supreme Court continues to sit by idly. Today’s politicians seem to only be interested in how to further their own careers, and when it comes to decision making their biased by either their religion, or their political party. It appears that there is a regime building up within the United States, a regime which shows all too many signs of a Fascist uprising.

                 When our forefathers created the Constitution, even though they did not declare it in the constitution itself, it was implied that they only wanted educated and knowledgeable landowners to vote.  Max Frankel, former editor of the Times, quotes from biographer Joachim Fest in his review of Speer: The Final Verdict: " . . .how easily, given appropriate conditions, people will allow themselves to be mobilized into violence, abandoning the humanitarian traditions they have built up over centuries to protect themselves from each other," ¹.  The “dumbing” down of America has reached new heights. It seems the majority of Americans will listen to anything they hear. By placing blind faith in our government we are handing them a blank check to do as they wish. People like Hitler and Mussolini rose to power by manipulating their Countries.

                Now, there are a lot of people out there who would label people like me as a nut job. Couple of years ago I wouldn’t believe it myself. Yet after studying US history in high school and placing number one in my AP US History class, I have begun to realize a trend within our government. Can we say that our form of checks and balances is 100% foolproof? Can we contain one man from doing the bidding of his choice? The President of the United States is virtually powerless. For almost everything he does he needs approval from congress. However I did say “virtually”. Many people are unaware of this fact, but the president has control over the ENTIRE military for ninety days before he has to report to congress. We can take over Cuba in just three.

Let us take a trip back into history. President Andrew Jackson, one of the key people from the War of 1812 who helped us defeat the British in New Orleans, ordered the “Trail of Tears”. For those of you who are not familiar with the trail of tears, in a nutshell it was Jackson’s way of telling the native Indians to get the hell out. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall declared the event “unconstitutional”. President Jackson’s famous response was, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it”. Obviously the Supreme Court has no army at its heels, so how does someone say no to a person with ninety days of complete military power?

Chris Hedges in his book War is a force that gives us meaning says, “There are always people willing to commit unspeakable human atrocity in exchange for a little power and privilege."  Power leads to corruption. It sounds so cliché. This is the phrase you hear in almost all bad guy films. However it wasn’t until now that I really took a look at what the phrase really meant. Our history is rich with shady presidents. FDR loved being commander in chief so much, he served four terms of it before congress decided to cut it short to two for all future hopefuls. President Bush’s administration passed laws that literally stripped away the bill of rights. Where was the tea party when Bush claimed authority to break 750 US laws². Yet we as citizens sit by idly as laws like the Patriot Act and a blatant attempt at invading the privacy of American citizens occurs. In fact the CIA is able to keep tabs on what people are saying through cell phones. Even if one is turned off, unless the battery is removed, the CIA is recording what we say. If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t this the same as the Soviet Union’s “Big Brother” policy during the cold war? Are we communists? Yet a lot of people don’t care because they say the government is “trying to keep us safe”, but my point is that it is a total disregard of the law because the CIA has no jurisdiction to work on US soil.  All of this occurs under one president who has no regards for the law but continues to run on a platform of patriotism.

However, my biggest fear is not corruption of power, corruption happens we cannot help that, what I am concerned about is the rise of religious fanatics. When I say religious fanatics I don’t mean Islam, I mean the extreme right. One of the things that gets me burning under the skin is the fact that no one seems to care about the separation of church and state. One of the main concerns people had during JFK’s presidential campaign was the fact that he was a Catholic and would ignore the rights of the Protestants. We are talking about the people who had the threat of nuclear missiles being fired at them by the USSR, but their biggest concern was why JFK is a Catholic. Our country today is at its biggest divide since the civil war. The right today only votes for their political parties regardless of what the candidates bring to the table. They look to see if the person is Christian or Muslim. Their politicians seek out the support of religious groups and clergy men. These are the people we must watch out for, because they are the ones who will destroy the very foundation of what we stand for. There is a reason why the separation of church and state is so important. One persons fairy tale pegged against another fairy tale only creates friction.

 When I think of America, an overwhelming sense of pride rushes through my veins. This is the country I have lived in since I immigrated here at six months. I know no other country which I could call home. So when I think about the future of this country and where it is headed, the future were my descendants will live in, I can only imagine. We are the most powerful country in the world. Our military is unmatched by any other entity out there. Every fight is our fight, do not be told else wise, we do not get to sit one out. Yet we will not always be like this. You think the Romans were thinking about the fall of their empire during its peak? Do you think Great Britain, a country with the most powerful Navy of that time, ever expected to lose to a bunch of farmers from the colonies? America will not be a superpower forever, not if history has a say in it. My only fear is what it will become when it does fall.  

¹(Is America Becoming Fascist by Anis Shivani http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3127.hm).

²Bush Challenges hundreds of laws by Charlie Savage, The  Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/

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