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kpete

(72,013 posts)
Wed Jul 4, 2012, 10:47 AM Jul 2012

"A Global Empire And A Creepy Police State Was Exactly What We Had In Mind," By Thomas Jefferson

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012

"A Global Empire And A Creepy Police State Was Exactly What We Had In Mind," By Thomas Jefferson
It's been 236 years. Along with the other framers, I just wanted to say: Well done. You guys nailed it.



Back when we presented our little list of complaints to the British Empire, we had a vision of the kind of country we'd like to create. Unalienable rights. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. It was pretty wild, radical stuff back then. But we never imagined how perfectly you folks would bring it off!

Hundreds of military installations all over the world. A network of spies almost completely beyond democratic control. A Defense Department that spends billions in black budget programs to fund armies of secret soldiers. And of course, a horde of blue-shirted thugs harassing disabled people, old people, breast cancer survivors, and a seven year-old girl with cerebral palsy. Wow. Just... wow. That's exactly what we all were thinking about, way back when.

When we complained about George III's standing armies and his attempts "to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power," what we really meant was we wanted to create our own force and scatter it throughout 130 countries. You people must have read our goddamn minds!

And when we griped about the king "imposing taxes on us without our Consent" to pay for his foreign military interventions, we never could have come up with the solution you devised. The idea of racking up trillion dollar deficits - essentially a Stamp Act every year on the nations' kids. It's simple. It's elegant. And it fixes itself. I mean, by the time they get old enough to vote, they'll be so far into the hole they'll just have to choose more of the same (until something Truly Bad happens, but let's not be negative about it). Way to go, America.

************************

the rest of the snark:
http://www.paulbibeau.blogspot.com/2012/07/global-empire-and-creepy-police-state.html

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"A Global Empire And A Creepy Police State Was Exactly What We Had In Mind," By Thomas Jefferson (Original Post) kpete Jul 2012 OP
is this series? I'm so confuded. nt DCKit Jul 2012 #1
Verily, I do believe it is satire 4th law of robotics Jul 2012 #2
Heh ... 'confuded'. eppur_se_muova Jul 2012 #8
And excellent snark it is. GoneOffShore Jul 2012 #3
Here, here... dtom67 Jul 2012 #4
...and I was already depressed. L0oniX Jul 2012 #5
A sad ring to it. 99Forever Jul 2012 #6
Progress....From Mental Giants like TJ and Madison to Dubya. colsohlibgal Jul 2012 #7

colsohlibgal

(5,275 posts)
7. Progress....From Mental Giants like TJ and Madison to Dubya.
Wed Jul 4, 2012, 01:49 PM
Jul 2012

Quite depressing. Now we're in an age where Obama is at best a moderate dem and at worst a moderate republican...and the far right brands him a Marxist Socialist. Bizarroland 2012.

The lunacy of the ridiculously bloated defense budget and the no new tax mantra really hits home with the fallout from the Derecho (Friday's massive wind storm), with all the power outages because we still use 19th century telegraph technology for power transmission, lines on poles up in the air.......and because of the remarkable heat wave gripping the land, global warming calling.

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