The poet, lyricist and philosopher bard, Phil Rockstroh, made this unique observation (via Facebook) earlier today:
An entire U.S. city is in lockdown due to the search for a solitary, nineteen year old suspect. Thirty different law enforcement agencies are involved. This is the sort of militarist overkill that is emblematic of a police state i.e., all sense of proportion is lost, and conveniently so…
Why? Because these bloated, over-funded police agencies have a need to justify their existence. And one means of doing so…is to keep ramped-up the level of fear…create a culture-wide, self-resonating feedback loop of hysteria.
Hence, if there exists a perpetual, looming menace to all we hold dear, the operatives of the police state can maintain their authority, and the political class can operate sans public oversight.
A 2011 Center for Investigative Reporting investigation revealed that since 9/11, $34 billion in grants from the Department of Homeland Security were allocated to states to procure military-grade weapons and other security defenses.
