Top 10 Signs Americans are Living in a Police State

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

There are some who would have Americans believe that certain kinds of change are necessary to the modern survival of this country. In this time of limitless and unforeseen possibilities, that statement is inevitably true. Yet this uncertainty is used to impose unnecessary restrictions upon the people. These restrictions have set the American nation down a dangerous path, slowly stripping it of that which was once the sole ambition of those who set out to liberate the oppressed: freedom.

Here are 10 signs the United States is now a Police State.

1. There Are Cameras Everywhere

You can’t go anywhere today without being recorded. From the traffic lights to the ATM machine every move you make is watched and documented. I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall voting on these matters. They just sort of appeared, for our safety of course. As far as regulation goes, there are none. Our government can access these feeds at any point, for any reason, as long as it’s a matter of national security. Which I’m sure it always is.

[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”110028″]

2. Whistleblowers Being Culled

Deceiving the people you work for and spreading their information to the masses in most cases is a no-no; except when you are exposing a gross injustice and or breach of rights by the very men charged with the defense of those rights. Then it becomes the duty of every American to expose the true evil. There are people, such as Edward Snowden, who are fighting for the rights of others at the expense of their own, being cast as traitors when in reality they are the true patriots of today.

(For more on true patriotism in the age of information, please see: Idiots, Zealots, Elitists and Patriots: The Four “Wise Monkeys” of Modern Society.)

3. Your Vote No Longer Matters

Despite all the evidence that these machines are built to be tampered with, touch screen voting machines continue to be used as this obvious security breach goes purposefully overlooked. For years, researchers have spoken out about the many flaws built into these machines. They have found ways to reject ballots, swap votes or accept 50,000 votes from a precinct with just 100 voters. Ask yourself if your vote still counts.

(Please also see the article, How the Voting System is Used to Enslave You to a Private Corporation.)

4. The News Only Tells You What They Want You to Hear

It’s no secret that the mainstream media is no longer the inquisitive and impartial figure that it once was. This is unfortunately something that those of us smart enough to realize have come to accept. There are those who mindlessly allow their decisions to be made for them by whatever one-sided story they choose to believe, but they are already lost. When one must rely on the alternative news outlets of the world to seek out the truth behind the lies, it becomes obvious that our nation is far different from the way they want us to see it.

(For more information, please see the article: Why Alternative Media is the New Mainstream.)

5. The Loss of Free Speech

The last thing the government wants is for those of us seeing what’s coming to speak our minds. They have worked too long and too hard to covertly manipulate the general population into feeling that they need more protection, which by default means a loss of everyday liberties. So we see people like Adam Kokesh (who by admission has extreme methods) being arrested by police and facing prison time, yet, if we still feel that Bill of Rights holds any true meaning anymore, he has broken no laws.

6. The Government Monitoring Your Phone and Location

I don’t think this topic even needs to be explained, but I will continue for those of you living under a rock. Edward Snowden, who I mentioned above, was labeled a traitor and arrested for treason for leaking information showing that the NSA was, and continues to, illegally track our phone activity and locations. This fact is undisputed, and should outrage all of us.

(For more information, please read: NSA’s Surveillance State: Hacking Keyboards, USB Drives, Firmware, Monitors and More.)

7. A Never-Ending War

A big red flag is the War on Terror or the War on Drugs. These are wars with ambiguous goals that can never be fully reached. There will always be another step or another threat. These perpetual wars will never end, nor were they meant to. They were manufactured to give justification to supposed temporary measures such as: massive government spending, spying on American citizens, suspension of civil liberties, and massive military expansion.

(For a detailed examination, please read the article: Mutually Agreed Peace: Ending the U.S. Doctrine of Perpetual War.)

[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”110030″]

8. “Temporary” Losses of Rights

The Patriot Act, in the same way as the wars mentioned above, was never meant to be temporary as we were told. This is exactly how just about every totalitarian rule in history has begun. We are told an extreme measure is necessary for protection, or whatever reason is conjured up, and it may mean a loss of certain liberties (also undefined) that will be temporary. Only put in place until the threat is over. Now many years later, the poorly named Patriot Act is stronger than ever, assimilated into every aspect of governmental action.

(For more on this, please see: The First Amendment – The REAL Patriot Act.)

9. Prison Camps

Halliburton subsidiaries were given nearly $400 million to build detention centers in the United States, for the purpose of unspecified “new programs.” There is no other explanation for detention centers — they are built to detain. Obama was quoted saying that these centers were for “Prolonged Detention” for those the government suspected might commit terrorist acts. “Might” being the key word there. The question is, who are they truly for?

(Please also see the article, The Real Terrorists: The 0.01%)

10. Signing Statements

Instead of vetoing or signing a bill, there is third option made popular by the Bush administration. These signing statements, when used deceitfully, can be used to bypass the judiciary and undermine the rule of law as we know in the United States. It allows the president to pick and choose which laws he feels like following and which to ignore. For instance, here is one that stands out to me:

Bill Passed – Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Bush’s signing statement: The president, as commander-in-chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.

Obama was public about his outrage toward Bush’s decision to use such actions before he was elected, calling them “an unconstitutional end-run around Congress.” Obama has taken the very same action as president.

Recommended articles by Ryan Cristián:

About the author:

Driven by a desire for accuracy, chef and alternative news stalwart Ryan Cristián has a passion for the Truth. As founder and Editor-in-chief of The Last American Vagabond, he understands that Americans want their news to be transparent, devoid of the opulence frothed out by today’s Corporate Media. A cultured and insightful man with a worldly sense, Ryan’s unjaded approach offers common sense to the individual racked by the ambiguous news cycle – a vicious and manipulative merry-go-round that keeps trenchant minds at a manageable distance from the truth. Avid writer and editor by day, Truth seeker by night, Ryan’s reality defines what it means to be current.

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.” – John Lennon

You can follow Ryan’s work at: