wakingtimes--2020-03-24--The National Plan to Vaccinate Every American

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are working with a biotech company to quickly start clinical trials of an experimental messenger RNA vaccine and fast track it to licensure .
The FDA has not yet licensed messenger RNA vaccines that use part of the RNA of a virus to manipulate the body ’ s immune system into stimulating a potent immune response .
It looks like the coronavirus vaccine will be the first genetically engineered messenger RNA vaccine to be fast tracked to licensure , just like Gardasil was the first genetically engineered virus-like particle vaccine to be fast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be lots of questions about whether the fast-tracked coronavirus vaccine was studied long enough to adequately demonstrate safety , especially for people who have trouble resolving strong inflammatory responses in their bodies and may be at greater risk for vaccine reactions .
However , there is no question about what will happen if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ( ACIP ) recommends that all Americans get the newly licensed coronavirus vaccine .
The government has a national vaccine plan .
It is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your child and everyone in America gets every dose of every vaccine that government officials recommend now and in the future .
1986 to 1996 : Establishing and Creating the Plan Established under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act during the Reagan Administration , the plan didn ’ t really get traction until Congress funded the Vaccines for Children program in 1993 under the Clinton administration and gave the Department of Health and Human Services authority to fund a network of state-based electronic vaccine tracking registries that can monitor the vaccination histories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their parents .
In 1995 , then Secretary of Health Donna Shalala used rule-making authority to authorize the Social Security Administration to disclose the Social Security number of every baby born in the country to state governments without parental consent .
Federal officials explained that “ public health program uses of the Social Security numbers would include , but are not limited to , establishing immunization registries ” and that new routine use of Social Security numbers would help the government operate “ a national network of coordinated statewide immunization registries.
” By @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Electronic Health Records ( EHR ) system under HIPPA , the stage had been set for a government-operated electronic surveillance system to monitor the personal medical records and vaccination status of all Americans .
The justification for this big data grab by the government , which clearly violated the privacy of Americans , was to “ protect the public by reducing disease.
” Today , the nationwide federally funded Electronic Health Records system captures the details of every visit you make to a doctor ’ s office , hospital , pharmacy , laboratory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnosis you get ; every drug you have been prescribed and every vaccine you accept or refuse .
Your Electronic Health Record can be accessed not only by government health agencies like the Social Security Administration , Medicaid and federal and state health and law enforcement agencies , but also can be shared with authorized third parties such as doctors , health insurance companies , HMOs and other corporations , hospitals , labs , nursing homes and medical researchers .
A new Health Information Exchange initiative funded by the government will make it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ records databases to tag , track down and sanction Americans who do not go along with the National Vaccine Plan in the future .
What Happened to the Duty to Prevent Adverse Reactions ?
Ironically , when Congress directed the Department of Health and Human Services to create the National Vaccine Program in the 1986 Act , federal health officials were told to put together a plan to “ achieve optimal prevention of human infectious diseases through immunization and to achieve optimal prevention against adverse reactions to vaccines.
” The plan was not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and promotion but to equally focus on preventing vaccine reactions .
Yet , in the very first 1994 National Vaccine Plan only four out of 25 “ objectives ” and only two out of 14 anticipated “ outcomes ” addressed preventing vaccine reactions .
The 2010 version of the Plan also largely ignored the legal duty of HHS to conduct vaccine safety research to fill in long standing knowledge gaps and take steps to make vaccines and vaccine policies less likely to cause harm .
Looking back , it appears Congress was not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ substantive initiatives to reduce vaccine risks , regardless of what was stated in the 1986 Act , or there would been congressional oversight and federal agencies would have been directed to follow the law rather than ignore it for more than 30 years .
Instead , government agencies have brazenly forged lucrative public private business partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment to : • Raise vaccination rates among children to nearly 100 % • Promote global vaccination programs , even though the primary purpose of the 1986 Act was to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ childhood vaccine supply , not fund and expand global vaccination programs In fact , federal health officials accurately characterize the U.S. vaccination system in the 21st century as a business .
A decade ago they admitted that “ The 2010 National Vaccine Plan provides a vision for the U.S. vaccine and immunization enterprise for the next decade.
” That ’ s because they know the National Vaccine Plan is really a Vaccine Marketing Plan for the pharmaceutical industry .
So , if you are wondering why many states are trying to pass laws @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine the pharmaceutical industry produces and the CDC recommends , you don ’ t have to look any further than the government ’ s well-financed National Vaccine Plan .
Implementation of the Plan Accelerated in 2011 Implementation of the Plan was accelerated in 2011 after the U.S. Supreme Court declared FDA licensed vaccines to be “ unavoidably unsafe ” for the purpose of removing almost all remaining liability from drug companies when vaccines hurt people .
Since 2011 , two powerful CDC-appointed vaccine advisory committees influenced by members associated with the pharmaceutical and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Immunization Practices ( ACIP ) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee ( NVAC ) — have been busy coming up with new ways to meet strategic goals of the National Vaccine Plan .
When highly publicized cases of measles were reported in California ’ s Disneyland in 2015 and in New York in 2019 , with military precision pursuit of the plan was kicked into even high gear .
During the past five years , California , Vermont , New York , Maine and Hawaii have lost vaccine exemptions , even though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in protest .
In 2019 , the people managed to hold on to exemptions in Oregon , Arizona and New Jersey but this year , bills to force vaccine use are already threatening parental , civil and human rights in Virginia , Massachusetts , Florida , Washington , Pennsylvania and more .
Five Main Types of Vaccine Laws Being Proposed in States These are the five main types of laws being proposed in the states and your state may be one of them : 1.State laws that eliminate all personal belief vaccine exemptions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ religious beliefs and make it illegal for physicians to grant a medical exemption unless it strictly conforms to very narrow CDC-approved contraindications to vaccination .
National vaccine coverage rates among school children are at 95 % for core vaccines like polio , pertussis , measles and chickenpox , yet , government health officials are not satisfied .
They have narrowed vaccine contraindications so that almost no medical history or health condition qualifies as a reason for a medical exemption .
If you or your child have had previous vaccine reactions , are vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was injured or died after vaccination , or are suffering with a brain or immune system disorder that the CDC ’ s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ( ACIP ) does not consider to be a contraindication to vaccination , states like California denying physicians the right to exercise professional judgment and give children a medical exemption to vaccination are threatening human rights .
No wonder less than 1 % of vaccine reactions are ever reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System and doctors feel free to discriminate against and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not vaccinated according to CDC schedules .
Laws that eliminate medical , religious and conscience exemptions to vaccination and ban citizens from getting a school education — even a college education — violate civil and human rights and so do vaccine mandates by employers who fire or refuse to hire workers based on their vaccination status .
The two professions being targeted first for workplace vaccine mandates are health care and child care workers , but they certainly will not be the last .
2.State laws that turn unelected members of the CDC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into de facto lawmakers and automatically mandate all current and future federally recommended vaccines without any public discussion or vote by duly elected state legislators .
Under the U.S. Constitution , state legislatures hold the majority of power to pass public health laws , so vaccine laws are state laws .
If states hand that constitutional authority over to an unelected federal government committee , the people no longer can work through their elected state representatives to make sure laws do not force involuntary medical risk taking and punish citizens exercising civil and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pharma and medical trade lobbyists partnering with government officials to implement the National Vaccine Plan are unhappy they have to spend so much time and money trying to strong arm state legislators into mandating every CDC recommended vaccine .
At the same time , some politicians are not happy that a growing number of Americans are showing up in state Capitols to oppose oppressive vaccine mandates .
Today , it costs a staggering $ 3,000 to give a child every one of the 69 doses of 16 vaccines on the federal government ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine , there are more than a dozen experimental vaccines being fast tracked to market for TB , influenza , HIV/AIDS , gonorrhea , herpes simplex , strep A and B , E. coli , RSV , salmonella and malaria , with several hundred more being developed in a global vaccine market estimated to balloon to nearly $ 100 billion by 2026 .
State laws that automatically mandate all federally recommended vaccines are handing Big Pharma a big blank check and putting an unknown number of vaccine vulnerable children and adults at risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forced to use every one of them .
3.State laws that allow doctors to declare minor children mentally competent to consent to vaccination so children can be vaccinated without the knowledge of their parents .
There is plenty of scientific evidence that children ’ s brains are not developed enough before or during teenage years to support rational benefit and risk decision-making , especially if they are subjected to pressure .
Giving doctors the legal authority to , in effect , go behind parents ’ backs and persuade a minor child to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parents to consent to medical interventions performed on their children .
It also puts vaccine vulnerable children at greater risk for suffering reactions .
Parents know their child ’ s personal and family medical history best and if parents are left in the dark , not only are they blocked from preventing vaccine reactions but there is no way for them to monitor a child after vaccination for signs of reactions so they can immediately take their child for treatment .
4.State laws requiring schools to publicly post vaccine coverage rates for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with vaccine exemptions to receive a school education .
Publicly posting school vaccination rates and numbers of students with exemptions creates a hostile community environment by targeting certain schools and families , whose children have vaccine exemptions , for discrimination and abuse .
It is an illusion that some schools are safer based on vaccination rates .
For example , even schools with 100 % vaccination rates and zero exemptions have had outbreaks of pertussis and schools with very high vaccination rates have had outbreaks of measles and mumps .
That is because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with and transmit infectious diseases but sometimes show few or no symptoms and are never diagnosed or reported .
Children and teachers interact with many other vaccinated and unvaccinated people outside of the school setting .
It is discriminatory to require public posting of the numbers of healthy students with vaccine exemptions , when schools are not required to publicly post the numbers of students who are infected with transmissible diseases like hepatitis B and C , HIV , streptococcal , mononucleosis , cytomegalovirus , E. coli , Fifths disease , herpes simplex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccine tracking registries and integrate them into Electronic Health Records systems without the consent of those being tracked .
The National Vaccine Information Center has a two-decade public record of opposing the creation of national or state based electronic surveillance systems that automatically enroll children and adults without their informed consent to monitor their vaccination status and health histories .
Not only have there been past security breaches with electronic databases dumping personally identifying information into the public domain , but there is legitimate concern that the government should not be conducting electronic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vaccine Plan that encourages punitive societal sanctions , such as the inability to get a school education or a job , for individuals who refuse to go along with the Plan .
Federal and State Police Powers to Compel Vaccine Use For more information on the history and types of public health laws that allow the federal government and states to use police powers to compel vaccine use , go to NVIC ’ s website at NVIC.org .
To learn more about vaccine legislation pending in your state and talking points you can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to NVIC Advocacy.org and become a user of NVIC ’ s free online Advocacy Portal .
You will be put into direct contact with your own state and federal representatives and sent emails when bills that threaten or expand your freedom to make voluntary vaccine choices are moving in your state so you can make your voice heard , including showing up at scheduled public hearings .
In America , we are governed by laws that the representatives we elect make , so it is important to vet all candidates for positions on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the polls .
Already this year , there have been more than 50 good bills introduced in a number of states that defend voluntary vaccine choices .
This is a time for positive action .
It ’ s your health .
Your family .
Your choice .
One of the Most Powerful Videos I ’ ve Ever Seen The following video from Barbara Loe Fisher is one of the most powerful videos that I have ever seen .
I am hopeful that watching this video will inspire you to take up the cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and independence .
There is a cultural war and collusion between many industries and federal regulatory agencies that results in a suppression of the truth about vital important health issues .
If this suppression continues we will gradually and progressively erode our private individual rights that our ancestors fought so hard to achieve .
Please take a few minutes to watch this video .
Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines , it ’ s critical to protect your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exercise voluntary informed consent to vaccination .
It is urgent that everyone in America stand up and fight to protect and expand vaccine informed consent protections in state public health and employment laws .
The best way to do this is to get personally involved with your state legislators and educate the leaders in your community .
National vaccine policy recommendations are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level .
It is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical for EVERYONE to get involved now in standing up for the legal right to make voluntary vaccine choices in America because those choices are being threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies , medical trade associations and public health officials , who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws .
Signing up for NVIC ’ s free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate , easy access to your own state legislators on your smartphone or computer so you can make your voice heard .
You @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the latest state bills threatening your vaccine choice rights and will get practical , useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community .
Also , when national vaccine issues come up , you will have the up-to-date information and call-to-action items you need at your fingertips .
So , please , as your first step , sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal .
Share Your Story With the Media and People You Know If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about it .
If we don ’ t share information and experiences with one another , everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up .
Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper .
Make a call in to a radio talk show that is presenting only one side of the vaccine story .
I must be frank with you : You have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down .
Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it .
We can not allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination .
The vaccine injured can not be swept under the carpet and treated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collateral damage ” of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death .
We shouldn ’ t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings .
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More I encourage you to visit the website of the nonprofit charity , the National Vaccine Information Center ( NVIC ) , at www.NVIC.org : • Vaccine Requirements and Exemptions by State — Vaccine laws vary from one U.S. state to another .
By knowing the specific policies where you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you can get exemptions and better protect your right to make informed vaccine choices .
• NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims — View descriptions and photos of children and adults who have suffered vaccine reactions , injuries and deaths .
If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event , please consider posting and sharing your story here .
• If You Vaccinate , Ask 8 Questions — Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries .
• Vaccine Freedom Wall — View or post descriptions of harassment and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and health officials for making independent vaccine choices .
• Vaccine Failure Wall — View or post descriptions about vaccines that have failed to work and protect the vaccinated from disease .
Connect With Your Doctor or Find a New One Who Will Listen and Care If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don ’ t want , I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor .
Harassment , intimidation and refusal of medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination .
However , there is hope .
At least 15 % of young doctors recently polled admit that they ’ re starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents .
It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day , or continuing to provide medical care for those families who decline use of one or more vaccines .
So , take the time to locate a doctor who treats you with compassion and respect , and who is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child .

The National Plan to Vaccinate Every American
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are working with a biotech company to quickly start clinical trials of an experimental messenger RNA vaccine and fast track it to licensure. The FDA has not yet licensed messenger RNA vaccines that use part of the RNA of a virus to manipulate the body’s immune system into stimulating a potent immune response.
It looks like the coronavirus vaccine will be the first genetically engineered messenger RNA vaccine to be fast tracked to licensure, just like Gardasil was the first genetically engineered virus-like particle vaccine to be fast tracked to licensure.
There likely will be lots of questions about whether the fast-tracked coronavirus vaccine was studied long enough to adequately demonstrate safety, especially for people who have trouble resolving strong inflammatory responses in their bodies and may be at greater risk for vaccine reactions.
However, there is no question about what will happen if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that all Americans get the newly licensed coronavirus vaccine.
The government has a national vaccine plan. It is a plan designed to make sure you, your child and everyone in America gets every dose of every vaccine that government officials recommend now and in the future.
1986 to 1996: Establishing and Creating the Plan
Established under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act during the Reagan Administration, the plan didn’t really get traction until Congress funded the Vaccines for Children program in 1993 under the Clinton administration and gave the Department of Health and Human Services authority to fund a network of state-based electronic vaccine tracking registries that can monitor the vaccination histories of children without the informed consent of their parents.
In 1995, then Secretary of Health Donna Shalala used rule-making authority to authorize the Social Security Administration to disclose the Social Security number of every baby born in the country to state governments without parental consent.
Federal officials explained that “public health program uses of the Social Security numbers would include, but are not limited to, establishing immunization registries” and that new routine use of Social Security numbers would help the government operate “a national network of coordinated statewide immunization registries.”
By 1996, when Congress established a national Electronic Health Records (EHR) system under HIPPA, the stage had been set for a government-operated electronic surveillance system to monitor the personal medical records and vaccination status of all Americans.
The justification for this big data grab by the government, which clearly violated the privacy of Americans, was to “protect the public by reducing disease.”
Nationwide Electronic Health Records and Vaccine Tracking
Today, the nationwide federally funded Electronic Health Records system captures the details of every visit you make to a doctor’s office, hospital, pharmacy, laboratory or other medical facility; every medical diagnosis you get; every drug you have been prescribed and every vaccine you accept or refuse.
Your Electronic Health Record can be accessed not only by government health agencies like the Social Security Administration, Medicaid and federal and state health and law enforcement agencies, but also can be shared with authorized third parties such as doctors, health insurance companies, HMOs and other corporations, hospitals, labs, nursing homes and medical researchers.
A new Health Information Exchange initiative funded by the government will make it even easier for computerized health and vaccine records databases to tag, track down and sanction Americans who do not go along with the National Vaccine Plan in the future.
What Happened to the Duty to Prevent Adverse Reactions?
Ironically, when Congress directed the Department of Health and Human Services to create the National Vaccine Program in the 1986 Act, federal health officials were told to put together a plan to “achieve optimal prevention of human infectious diseases through immunization and to achieve optimal prevention against adverse reactions to vaccines.”
The plan was not supposed to focus solely on vaccine development and promotion but to equally focus on preventing vaccine reactions. Yet, in the very first 1994 National Vaccine Plan only four out of 25 “objectives” and only two out of 14 anticipated “outcomes” addressed preventing vaccine reactions.
The 2010 version of the Plan also largely ignored the legal duty of HHS to conduct vaccine safety research to fill in long standing knowledge gaps and take steps to make vaccines and vaccine policies less likely to cause harm.
Looking back, it appears Congress was not really committed to funding research and creating substantive initiatives to reduce vaccine risks, regardless of what was stated in the 1986 Act, or there would been congressional oversight and federal agencies would have been directed to follow the law rather than ignore it for more than 30 years.
Government’s Vaccine Marketing Plan for Big Pharma
Instead, government agencies have brazenly forged lucrative public private business partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment to:
Develop many new vaccines
Increase public demand for vaccines
Raise vaccination rates among children to nearly 100%
Create and expand electronic vaccine tracking registries
Promote global vaccination programs, even though the primary purpose of the 1986 Act was to reduce vaccine reactions and protect the U.S. childhood vaccine supply, not fund and expand global vaccination programs
In fact, federal health officials accurately characterize the U.S. vaccination system in the 21st century as a business. A decade ago they admitted that “The 2010 National Vaccine Plan provides a vision for the U.S. vaccine and immunization enterprise for the next decade.”
That’s because they know the National Vaccine Plan is really a Vaccine Marketing Plan for the pharmaceutical industry.
So, if you are wondering why many states are trying to pass laws eliminating all vaccine exemptions and mandate every vaccine the pharmaceutical industry produces and the CDC recommends, you don’t have to look any further than the government’s well-financed National Vaccine Plan.
Implementation of the Plan Accelerated in 2011
Implementation of the Plan was accelerated in 2011 after the U.S. Supreme Court declared FDA licensed vaccines to be “unavoidably unsafe” for the purpose of removing almost all remaining liability from drug companies when vaccines hurt people.
Since 2011, two powerful CDC-appointed vaccine advisory committees influenced by members associated with the pharmaceutical and medical trade industries — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) — have been busy coming up with new ways to meet strategic goals of the National Vaccine Plan.
When highly publicized cases of measles were reported in California’s Disneyland in 2015 and in New York in 2019, with military precision pursuit of the plan was kicked into even high gear. During the past five years, California, Vermont, New York, Maine and Hawaii have lost vaccine exemptions, even though tens of thousands of Americans rose up in protest.
In 2019, the people managed to hold on to exemptions in Oregon, Arizona and New Jersey but this year, bills to force vaccine use are already threatening parental, civil and human rights in Virginia, Massachusetts, Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania and more.
Five Main Types of Vaccine Laws Being Proposed in States
These are the five main types of laws being proposed in the states and your state may be one of them:
1.State laws that eliminate all personal belief vaccine exemptions allowing you to follow your conscience or religious beliefs and make it illegal for physicians to grant a medical exemption unless it strictly conforms to very narrow CDC-approved contraindications to vaccination.
National vaccine coverage rates among school children are at 95% for core vaccines like polio, pertussis, measles and chickenpox, yet, government health officials are not satisfied. They have narrowed vaccine contraindications so that almost no medical history or health condition qualifies as a reason for a medical exemption.
If you or your child have had previous vaccine reactions, are vaccine injured, have a brother or sister who was injured or died after vaccination, or are suffering with a brain or immune system disorder that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) does not consider to be a contraindication to vaccination, states like California denying physicians the right to exercise professional judgment and give children a medical exemption to vaccination are threatening human rights.
No wonder less than 1% of vaccine reactions are ever reported to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System and doctors feel free to discriminate against and deny medical care to anyone who is not vaccinated according to CDC schedules.
Laws that eliminate medical, religious and conscience exemptions to vaccination and ban citizens from getting a school education — even a college education — violate civil and human rights and so do vaccine mandates by employers who fire or refuse to hire workers based on their vaccination status.
The two professions being targeted first for workplace vaccine mandates are health care and child care workers, but they certainly will not be the last.
2.State laws that turn unelected members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices into de facto lawmakers and automatically mandate all current and future federally recommended vaccines without any public discussion or vote by duly elected state legislators.
Under the U.S. Constitution, state legislatures hold the majority of power to pass public health laws, so vaccine laws are state laws.
If states hand that constitutional authority over to an unelected federal government committee, the people no longer can work through their elected state representatives to make sure laws do not force involuntary medical risk taking and punish citizens exercising civil and human rights.
It is clear that Pharma and medical trade lobbyists partnering with government officials to implement the National Vaccine Plan are unhappy they have to spend so much time and money trying to strong arm state legislators into mandating every CDC recommended vaccine.
At the same time, some politicians are not happy that a growing number of Americans are showing up in state Capitols to oppose oppressive vaccine mandates. Today, it costs a staggering $3,000 to give a child every one of the 69 doses of 16 vaccines on the federal government’s schedule.
In addition to coronavirus vaccine, there are more than a dozen experimental vaccines being fast tracked to market for TB, influenza, HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, herpes simplex, strep A and B, E. coli, RSV, salmonella and malaria, with several hundred more being developed in a global vaccine market estimated to balloon to nearly $100 billion by 2026.
State laws that automatically mandate all federally recommended vaccines are handing Big Pharma a big blank check and putting an unknown number of vaccine vulnerable children and adults at risk for serious health problems if they are forced to use every one of them.
3.State laws that allow doctors to declare minor children mentally competent to consent to vaccination so children can be vaccinated without the knowledge of their parents.
There is plenty of scientific evidence that children’s brains are not developed enough before or during teenage years to support rational benefit and risk decision-making, especially if they are subjected to pressure.
Giving doctors the legal authority to, in effect, go behind parents’ backs and persuade a minor child to get liability-free vaccines violates the legal right of parents to consent to medical interventions performed on their children. It also puts vaccine vulnerable children at greater risk for suffering reactions.
Parents know their child’s personal and family medical history best and if parents are left in the dark, not only are they blocked from preventing vaccine reactions but there is no way for them to monitor a child after vaccination for signs of reactions so they can immediately take their child for treatment.
4.State laws requiring schools to publicly post vaccine coverage rates for the purpose of shaming schools that allow students with vaccine exemptions to receive a school education.
Publicly posting school vaccination rates and numbers of students with exemptions creates a hostile community environment by targeting certain schools and families, whose children have vaccine exemptions, for discrimination and abuse.
It is an illusion that some schools are safer based on vaccination rates. For example, even schools with 100% vaccination rates and zero exemptions have had outbreaks of pertussis and schools with very high vaccination rates have had outbreaks of measles and mumps.
That is because vaccinated children and adults can get infected with and transmit infectious diseases but sometimes show few or no symptoms and are never diagnosed or reported. Children and teachers interact with many other vaccinated and unvaccinated people outside of the school setting.
It is discriminatory to require public posting of the numbers of healthy students with vaccine exemptions, when schools are not required to publicly post the numbers of students who are infected with transmissible diseases like hepatitis B and C, HIV, streptococcal, mononucleosis, cytomegalovirus, E. coli, Fifths disease, herpes simplex and more.
5.State laws that operate vaccine tracking registries and integrate them into Electronic Health Records systems without the consent of those being tracked.
The National Vaccine Information Center has a two-decade public record of opposing the creation of national or state based electronic surveillance systems that automatically enroll children and adults without their informed consent to monitor their vaccination status and health histories.
Not only have there been past security breaches with electronic databases dumping personally identifying information into the public domain, but there is legitimate concern that the government should not be conducting electronic surveillance on citizens while pursuing a National Vaccine Plan that encourages punitive societal sanctions, such as the inability to get a school education or a job, for individuals who refuse to go along with the Plan.
Federal and State Police Powers to Compel Vaccine Use
For more information on the history and types of public health laws that allow the federal government and states to use police powers to compel vaccine use, go to NVIC’s website at NVIC.org.
To learn more about vaccine legislation pending in your state and talking points you can use to educate your legislators, go to NVIC Advocacy.org and become a user of NVIC’s free online Advocacy Portal.
You will be put into direct contact with your own state and federal representatives and sent emails when bills that threaten or expand your freedom to make voluntary vaccine choices are moving in your state so you can make your voice heard, including showing up at scheduled public hearings.
Making Government Work for You
In America, we are governed by laws that the representatives we elect make, so it is important to vet all candidates for positions on issues you care about before going to the polls.
Already this year, there have been more than 50 good bills introduced in a number of states that defend voluntary vaccine choices. This is a time for positive action. It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.
One of the Most Powerful Videos I’ve Ever Seen
The following video from Barbara Loe Fisher is one of the most powerful videos that I have ever seen. I am hopeful that watching this video will inspire you to take up the cause and join the fight for vaccine freedom and independence.
There is a cultural war and collusion between many industries and federal regulatory agencies that results in a suppression of the truth about vital important health issues. If this suppression continues we will gradually and progressively erode our private individual rights that our ancestors fought so hard to achieve. Please take a few minutes to watch this video.
http://youtu.be/xEcYQydhY9E
Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions
With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, it’s critical to protect your right to make independent health choices and exercise voluntary informed consent to vaccination. It is urgent that everyone in America stand up and fight to protect and expand vaccine informed consent protections in state public health and employment laws. The best way to do this is to get personally involved with your state legislators and educate the leaders in your community.
Think Globally, Act Locally
National vaccine policy recommendations are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level. It is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights can have the greatest impact.
It is critical for EVERYONE to get involved now in standing up for the legal right to make voluntary vaccine choices in America because those choices are being threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade associations and public health officials, who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws.
Signing up for NVIC’s free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate, easy access to your own state legislators on your smartphone or computer so you can make your voice heard. You will be kept up to date on the latest state bills threatening your vaccine choice rights and will get practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community.
Also, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have the up-to-date information and call-to-action items you need at your fingertips. So, please, as your first step, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal.
Share Your Story With the Media and People You Know
If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, please talk about it. If we don’t share information and experiences with one another, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is presenting only one side of the vaccine story.
I must be frank with you: You have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “other side” of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.
We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination.
The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than “statistically acceptable collateral damage” of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn’t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
I encourage you to visit the website of the nonprofit charity, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), at www.NVIC.org:
Vaccine Requirements and Exemptions by State — Vaccine laws vary from one U.S. state to another. By knowing the specific policies where you live, you’ll learn how you can get exemptions and better protect your right to make informed vaccine choices.
— Vaccine laws vary from one U.S. state to another. By knowing the specific policies where you live, you’ll learn how you can get exemptions and better protect your right to make informed vaccine choices. NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims — View descriptions and photos of children and adults who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
— View descriptions and photos of children and adults who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here. If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions — Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
— Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries. Vaccine Freedom Wall — View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers and school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.
— View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers and school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices. Vaccine Failure Wall — View or post descriptions about vaccines that have failed to work and protect the vaccinated from disease.
Connect With Your Doctor or Find a New One Who Will Listen and Care
If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don’t want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor.
Harassment, intimidation and refusal of medical care are becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination. However, there is hope.
At least 15% of young doctors recently polled admit that they’re starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents.
It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day, or continuing to provide medical care for those families who decline use of one or more vaccines.
So, take the time to locate a doctor who treats you with compassion and respect, and who is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child.


wakingtimes--2020-03-25--Two Hundred and Thirty Years of Rights and Liberties Shredded: Why I Oppose The Lockdown

Although it was nearly twenty years ago , I can remember 9/11 like it was yesterday .
I remember the shock of hearing about the planes crashing into towers , at first believing it was a tragic accident and quickly learning it to be otherwise .
I remember being told that 19 hijackers , part of a fundamentalist plot to destroy America , were behind the attacks and that the mastermind was a man in a cave in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden .
As all of America was glued to their television screens , many rushed out to give @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do something to help one another .
George W. Bush ’ s answer for Americans was to go to work and then go out and shop .
Americans dutifully complied .
But the government ’ s answer , in tandem with mainstream media , was also to be afraid .
Very afraid .
Americans also complied with this request , perhaps more than any other .
In the days and weeks after the initial shock , a college professor informed me about a bill called the PATRIOT ACT that would essentially eviscerate much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
After class , I questioned him further about the bill , which he explained , and suggested that if I really wanted to understand what was happening , I should read 1984 by George Orwell .
I went home and did just that and was surprised to learn that not only was he right , but that I was watching what I was reading happen in front of me in real life .
I watched as the fear of speaking your mind and saying certain words became known as freedom .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their communications were listened to , frightened of what they said , but justifying it as they praised their country for being unlike the totalitarian governments of the past .
Peace became war .
Any suggestion that invading Afghanistan was wrong was unpatriotic .
In fact , any criticism of the government was considered unpatriotic and anyone who valued freedom over temporary security was borderline a traitor .
I watched as the United States became The Homeland and I watched as my friends had their window busted out of their car because they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ window flags .
Still , shortly after the event itself , I began speaking out against the erosion of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights .
I questioned the official story of 9/11 and fought against the passage of the PATRIOT ACT .
In those days , anyone who did either of these things was considered either woefully ignorant and naive or a traitor who was giving moral support to the enemy .
I spoke out after 9/11 and was largely alone with a few notable exceptions .
I was forced to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give away the most precious thing they had , the things which no other country could lay claim to , and the thing that they claimed they were supporting war to protect .
America gave away a huge chunk of its rights in the wake of 9/11 and , though they were promised the measures were only temporary , twenty years on we have never received them back .
Instead , police officers are now often indistinguishable from military soldiers , the United States is still in Afghanistan as well as Iraq , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and a host of theatres across the world where its undefinable “ interests ” apparently lie .
It is now a foregone conclusion that cellphone , internet , and all other communications are monitored .
It is well understood that the iron fist of the state can come down with lack of due process and the Second Amendment is under daily attack .
Torture is now general practice for foreign and domestic arrestees .
Now , here we are close to twenty years later .
Americans once again have a shadowy nemesis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed to provide adequate information .
Once again , the governmental response is not a robust rethinking of how we got to be where we are , ( in this case how medical care is provided , who has access to it , or the overarching philosophy behind it ) , but a massive police state , quasi martial law , and the evisceration of what is left of the liberties and rights they didn ’ t give away twenty years ago or give away gradually in the time between .
This time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President leading the charge to burn the Constitution , but Governors all across the country , acting in concert with one another .
But they aren ’ t acting alone .
Because of the massive propaganda mouthpiece of the mainstream media blasting hysteria and panic as well as the desired conclusions they intend for their audiences to reach , many Americans are demanding that their rights be taken away and that they and their fellow citizens be forced off the streets and into their homes at gunpoint .
My opposition to the potential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based on the fact that over two hundred and thirty years of rights and liberties should not be shredded on the basis of any threat , real or imagined .
Americans either have rights or we don ’ t .
There is no asterisk in the Constitution that states the Bill of Rights is null and void in the event of a terrorist attack or a virus outbreak .
If we do not maintain our rights in a time of crisis , then , simply put , we do not truly have rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintain these rights , our country , such as it is , ceases to exist .
As Peter Hitchens , one of the few critics of this Lockdown mentality ( happening all over the world and , in his case , Britain ) wrote in his recent article for the Mail Online , Hitchens ’ article is well worth reading , not only for his views but for his critique of the scale of the pandemic , which is highly questionable .
Secondly , we are quickly driving this country to a second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never before seen and where only the 1 % and the major banks have anything resembling wealth .
This Depression will be so devastating that it will make the first look weak in comparison , not just because of employment but because of the real human toll after decades of globalism , Free Trade , and urbanization have gutted this country of its workforce , manufacturing , healthcare , education , production capabilities , and general living standards .
With more Americans living urban lives and fewer and fewer farms by the day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many more people than the virus and leave those left alive scrounging for crumbs at the bottom .
Already , since the beginning of this virus emergency , we have witnessed a huge transfer of wealth from the lower classes to the higher and we will no doubt witness more as this insane Lockdown attempt continues .
After the Lockdown passes , Americans will complain about low wages and lack of work .
They will wait in lines for benefits that may or may not exist and that will be lower than their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ loss of their rights , the benefits will be temporary .
But Americans won ’ t be able to fully blame Wall Street this time around since it was the media and the people who listen to it who were howling in the streets for Lockdowns and shutdowns .
They will have gotten what they wanted as well as the opportunity to live to regret it .
So here I am , twenty years after a writing career began as a result of generally good people who were frightened into giving away their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing yet again .
Of course , there may be time to reverse the direction in which we are heading .
The next few weeks will most likely determine that matter .
One thing is for certain , however , if Americans give up their rights now , they will never get them back .
I don ’ t have any illusions about the effect this article will have on the direction we are heading as a nation .
Instead , I expect it to bring about more criticism , more insults , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer “ credible ” as the propaganda repeaters seen on the major cable networks are credible .
But it will be worth it , for no other reason than to register my voice so that , for the record , there was at least a few people who retained their sanity through this worldwide era of panic and did not willingly sacrifice his rights on the altar of fear .
If we are able to step back from the abyss , perhaps the “ credibility ” and respect that I lose from peers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someday be returned .
But if we are not able to step back , I can ’ t imagine anyone will be able to remember anything I ’ ve said here and , if that is the case , it probably wouldn ’ t matter if they did .
Brandon Turbeville writes for Activist Post – article archive here – He is the author of seven books , Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom , 7 Real Conspiracies , Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident , volume 1 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The Anglo-American Assault on Syria , The Difference it Makes : 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President , and Resisting The Empire : The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome .
Turbeville has published over 1500 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health , economics , government corruption , civil liberties and , most notably , geopolitics and the Syrian crisis .
His most recent release is a book of poetry , Dance , Amputee .
Brandon Turbeville @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tracks can be found at UCYTV .
His website is BrandonTurbeville.com .
He is available for radio and TV interviews .
Please contact activistpost ( at ) gmail.com .
He is from Columbia , SC .
This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link .
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $ 1 per month at Patreon .
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Two Hundred and Thirty Years of Rights and Liberties Shredded: Why I Oppose The Lockdown
Brandon Turbeville, Guest
Waking Times
Although it was nearly twenty years ago, I can remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I remember the shock of hearing about the planes crashing into towers, at first believing it was a tragic accident and quickly learning it to be otherwise. I remember being told that 19 hijackers, part of a fundamentalist plot to destroy America, were behind the attacks and that the mastermind was a man in a cave in Afghanistan named Osama bin Laden.
As all of America was glued to their television screens, many rushed out to give blood in an effort to at least do something to help one another. George W. Bush’s answer for Americans was to go to work and then go out and shop. Americans dutifully complied. But the government’s answer, in tandem with mainstream media, was also to be afraid. Very afraid. Americans also complied with this request, perhaps more than any other.
In the days and weeks after the initial shock, a college professor informed me about a bill called the PATRIOT ACT that would essentially eviscerate much of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. After class, I questioned him further about the bill, which he explained, and suggested that if I really wanted to understand what was happening, I should read 1984 by George Orwell. I went home and did just that and was surprised to learn that not only was he right, but that I was watching what I was reading happen in front of me in real life.
I watched as the fear of speaking your mind and saying certain words became known as freedom. I watched as Americans came to assume that their communications were listened to, frightened of what they said, but justifying it as they praised their country for being unlike the totalitarian governments of the past. Peace became war. Any suggestion that invading Afghanistan was wrong was unpatriotic. In fact, any criticism of the government was considered unpatriotic and anyone who valued freedom over temporary security was borderline a traitor.
I watched as the United States became The Homeland and I watched as my friends had their window busted out of their car because they did not have one of those ridiculous window flags.
Still, shortly after the event itself, I began speaking out against the erosion of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I questioned the official story of 9/11 and fought against the passage of the PATRIOT ACT. In those days, anyone who did either of these things was considered either woefully ignorant and naive or a traitor who was giving moral support to the enemy.
I spoke out after 9/11 and was largely alone with a few notable exceptions. I was forced to watch the majority of my fellow Americans give away the most precious thing they had, the things which no other country could lay claim to, and the thing that they claimed they were supporting war to protect. America gave away a huge chunk of its rights in the wake of 9/11 and, though they were promised the measures were only temporary, twenty years on we have never received them back.
Instead, police officers are now often indistinguishable from military soldiers, the United States is still in Afghanistan as well as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Ukraine, and a host of theatres across the world where its undefinable “interests” apparently lie. It is now a foregone conclusion that cellphone, internet, and all other communications are monitored. It is well understood that the iron fist of the state can come down with lack of due process and the Second Amendment is under daily attack. Torture is now general practice for foreign and domestic arrestees.
Now, here we are close to twenty years later. Americans once again have a shadowy nemesis for which our government has once again failed to provide adequate information. Once again, the governmental response is not a robust rethinking of how we got to be where we are, (in this case how medical care is provided, who has access to it, or the overarching philosophy behind it), but a massive police state, quasi martial law, and the evisceration of what is left of the liberties and rights they didn’t give away twenty years ago or give away gradually in the time between.
This time, it is not so much the President leading the charge to burn the Constitution, but Governors all across the country, acting in concert with one another. But they aren’t acting alone. Because of the massive propaganda mouthpiece of the mainstream media blasting hysteria and panic as well as the desired conclusions they intend for their audiences to reach, many Americans are demanding that their rights be taken away and that they and their fellow citizens be forced off the streets and into their homes at gunpoint.
My opposition to the potential Lockdown is twofold but principally it is based on the fact that over two hundred and thirty years of rights and liberties should not be shredded on the basis of any threat, real or imagined. Americans either have rights or we don’t. There is no asterisk in the Constitution that states the Bill of Rights is null and void in the event of a terrorist attack or a virus outbreak. If we do not maintain our rights in a time of crisis, then, simply put, we do not truly have rights at all.
If we do not maintain these rights, our country, such as it is, ceases to exist.
As Peter Hitchens, one of the few critics of this Lockdown mentality (happening all over the world and, in his case, Britain) wrote in his recent article for the Mail Online,
All the crudest weapons of despotism, the curfew, the presumption of guilt and the power of arbitrary arrest, are taking shape in the midst of what used to be a free country. And we, who like to boast of how calm we are in a crisis, seem to despise our ancient hard-bought freedom and actually want to rush into the warm, firm arms of Big Brother.
Hitchens’ article is well worth reading, not only for his views but for his critique of the scale of the pandemic, which is highly questionable.
Secondly, we are quickly driving this country to a second Great Depression where unemployment is at levels never before seen and where only the 1% and the major banks have anything resembling wealth. This Depression will be so devastating that it will make the first look weak in comparison, not just because of employment but because of the real human toll after decades of globalism, Free Trade, and urbanization have gutted this country of its workforce, manufacturing, healthcare, education, production capabilities, and general living standards. With more Americans living urban lives and fewer and fewer farms by the day, the Second Great Depression will kill many more people than the virus and leave those left alive scrounging for crumbs at the bottom. Already, since the beginning of this virus emergency, we have witnessed a huge transfer of wealth from the lower classes to the higher and we will no doubt witness more as this insane Lockdown attempt continues.
After the Lockdown passes, Americans will complain about low wages and lack of work. They will wait in lines for benefits that may or may not exist and that will be lower than their current living standards require. Unlike the loss of their rights, the benefits will be temporary. But Americans won’t be able to fully blame Wall Street this time around since it was the media and the people who listen to it who were howling in the streets for Lockdowns and shutdowns. They will have gotten what they wanted as well as the opportunity to live to regret it.
So here I am, twenty years after a writing career began as a result of generally good people who were frightened into giving away their rights, writing about exactly the same thing yet again. Of course, there may be time to reverse the direction in which we are heading. The next few weeks will most likely determine that matter. One thing is for certain, however, if Americans give up their rights now, they will never get them back.
I don’t have any illusions about the effect this article will have on the direction we are heading as a nation. Instead, I expect it to bring about more criticism, more insults, and more claims that I am no longer “credible” as the propaganda repeaters seen on the major cable networks are credible. But it will be worth it, for no other reason than to register my voice so that, for the record, there was at least a few people who retained their sanity through this worldwide era of panic and did not willingly sacrifice his rights on the altar of fear.
If we are able to step back from the abyss, perhaps the “credibility” and respect that I lose from peers as a result of this article will someday be returned. But if we are not able to step back, I can’t imagine anyone will be able to remember anything I’ve said here and, if that is the case, it probably wouldn’t matter if they did.
Brandon Turbeville writes for Activist Post – article archive here – He is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over 1500 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, civil liberties and, most notably, geopolitics and the Syrian crisis. His most recent release is a book of poetry, Dance, Amputee. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com. He is from Columbia, SC.
This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link.
Image: Anthony Freda Art
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


wakingtimes--2020-03-25--Suspending the Constitution: Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers

You can always count on the government to take advantage of a crisis , legitimate or manufactured .
This coronavirus pandemic is no exception .
Not only are the federal and state governments unraveling the constitutional fabric of the nation with lockdown mandates that are sending the economy into a tailspin and wreaking havoc with our liberties , but they are also rendering the citizenry fully dependent on the government for financial handouts , medical intervention , protection and sustenance .
Unless we find some way to rein in the government ’ s power grabs , the fall-out will be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for years—government overreach , invasive surveillance , martial law , abuse of powers , militarized police , weaponized technology used to track and control the citizenry , and so on—has coalesced into this present moment .
The government ’ s shameless exploitation of past national emergencies for its own nefarious purposes pales in comparison to what is presently unfolding .
Deploying the same strategy it used with 9/11 to acquire greater powers under the USA Patriot Act , the police state—a.k.a .
the shadow government , a.k.a .
the Deep State—has been anticipating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wish list of lockdown powers that could be trotted out and approved at a moment ’ s notice .
It should surprise no one , then , that the Trump Administration has asked Congress to allow it to suspend parts of the Constitution whenever it deems it necessary during this coronavirus pandemic and “ other ” emergencies .
It ’ s that “ other ” emergencies part that should particularly give you pause , if not spur you to immediate action ( by action , I mean a loud and vocal , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apolitical , nonpartisan resistance ) .
In fact , the Department of Justice ( DOJ ) has been quietly trotting out and testing a long laundry list of terrifying powers that override the Constitution .
We ’ re talking about lockdown powers ( at both the federal and state level ) : the ability to suspend the Constitution , indefinitely detain American citizens , bypass the courts , quarantine whole communities or segments of the population , override the First Amendment by outlawing religious gatherings and assemblies of more than a few people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economy , muzzle dissidents , “ stop and seize any plane , train or automobile to stymie the spread of contagious disease , ” reshape financial markets , create a digital currency ( and thus further restrict the use of cash ) , determine who should live or die… You ’ re getting the picture now , right ?
These are powers the police state would desperately like to make permanent .
Specifically , the DOJ wants to be able to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial .
The DOJ also wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and suspend the statute of limitations on criminal and civil cases .
Both signify a clear violation of every right espoused in the Constitution , including habeas corpus .
Habeas corpus , a fundamental tenet of English common law that guards against arbitrary and lawless state action , does not appear anywhere in the Bill of Rights .
Its importance was such that it was enshrined in the Constitution itself .
And it is of such magnitude that all other rights , including those in the Bill of Rights , are dependent upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ significance of all other rights crumbles .
The right of habeas corpus was important to the Framers of the Constitution because they knew from personal experience what it was like to be labeled enemy combatants , imprisoned indefinitely and not given the opportunity to appear before a neutral judge .
Believing that such arbitrary imprisonment is “ in all ages , the favorite and most formidable instrument of tyranny , ” the Founders were all the more determined to protect Americans from such government abuses .
Translated as “ you should have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal action , or writ , by which those imprisoned unlawfully can seek relief from their imprisonment .
Derived from English common law , habeas corpus first appeared in the Magna Carta of 1215 and is the oldest human right in the history of English-speaking civilization .
The doctrine of habeas corpus stems from the requirement that a government must either charge a person or let him go free .
Throughout the twentieth century , the importance of the right of habeas corpus has repeatedly been confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ founders risked their lives to secure their freedoms , we find ourselves right back where we started , with a government determined to strip us of every vestige of our freedoms .
The DOJ ’ s latest request to Congress is merely a signal that the police state is ready to step out of the shadows , with the current national emergency being a convenient cover for their dastardly deeds .
Bear in mind , however , that these powers the Trump Administration , acting on orders from the police state , are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barely scratch the surface of the far-reaching powers the government has already unilaterally claimed for itself .
Unofficially , the police state has been riding roughshod over the rule of law for years now without any pretense of being reined in or restricted in its power grabs by Congress , the courts or the citizenry .
As David C. Unger , observes in The Emergency State : America ’ s Pursuit of Absolute Security at All Costs : This rise of an “ emergency state ” that justifies all manner of government tyranny @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is all happening according to schedule .
The civil unrest , the national emergencies , “ unforeseen economic collapse , loss of functioning political and legal order , purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency , pervasive public health emergencies , and catastrophic natural and human disasters , ” the government ’ s reliance on the armed forces to solve domestic political and social problems , the implicit declaration of martial law packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation ’ s security : the powers-that-be have been planning and preparing for such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just with active shooter drills and lockdowns and checkpoints and heightened danger alerts , but with a sensory overload of militarized , battlefield images—in video games , in movies , on the news—that acclimate us to life in a police state .
Whether or not this particular crisis is of the government ’ s own making is not the point : to those for whom power and profit are everything , the end always justifies the means .
Comprising the country ’ s Continuity of Government ( COG ) plan , these directives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 ) , which do not need congressional approval , provide a skeletal outline of the actions the president will take in the event of a “ national emergency.
” Mind you , that national emergency can take any form , can be manipulated for any purpose and can be used to justify any end goal—all on the say so of the president .
Just what sort of actions the president will take once he declares a national emergency can barely be discerned from the barebones directives .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the event of a national emergency , the president will become a dictator because while the COG directives ensure the continuity of executive branch functions , they do not provide for repopulating or reconvening Congress or the Supreme Court .
Thus , a debilitating attack would give unchecked executive , legislative and judicial power to the executive branch and its unelected minions .
The country would then be subjected to martial law by default , and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be suspended .
Originally devised as a plan for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concept arose during the Cold War .
The fear was that a nuclear strike would paralyze the federal government .
These concerns continued into the 1980s .
Under President Ronald Reagan , an elaborate plan was created in which three teams consisting of a cabinet member , an executive chief of staff and military and intelligence officials would practice evacuating and directing a counter nuclear strike against the Soviet Union from a variety of high-tech , mobile command vehicles .
If the president and vice president were both killed , one of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ranking cabinet official serving as president .
Among those Reagan handpicked to advise an inexperienced and potentially incompetent successor in a time of crisis were Congressman Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld , then a business executive with G. D. Searle & Co. At least once a year during the 1980s , Cheney and Rumsfeld vanished on top-secret training missions , where each of the teams practiced evacuating and directing a counter nuclear strike against Russia .
This all changed after the attacks of September 11 , 2001 , when it became clear that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Cold War no longer applied : there would be no warning against a so-called “ terrorist ” attack .
Thus , instead of relying on part-time bureaucrats and evacuation schematics , the Bush administration permanently appointed executive officials , stationed outside the capital , to run a shadow government .
The U.S. military has reportedly already been given standby orders under COG for this present coronavirus pandemic .
The plans for the shadow government administered by those who run the Deep State are more elaborate than many realize .
Massive underground bunkers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ throughout the country for the government elite to escape to in the event of a national emergency .
Mount Weather , near Bluemont , Va. , is one of a number of such facilities .
Built into the side of a mountain , this bunker contains , among other things , a hospital , crematorium , dining and recreation areas , sleeping quarters , reservoirs of drinking and cooling water , an emergency power plant and a radio/television studio .
There is also an Office of the Presidency at Mount Weather , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the federal departments and agencies .
This facility was largely unknown to everyone , including Congress , until it came to light in the mid-1970s .
Military personnel connected to the bunker have refused to reveal any information about it , even before congressional committees .
In fact , Congress has no oversight , budgetary or otherwise , on Mount Weather , and the specifics of the facility remain top-secret .
What is the bottom line here ?
We are , for all intents and purposes , one crisis away from having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shadows , at which time democratic government will be dissolved and the country will be ruled by an unelected bureaucracy .
Thus far , we have at least pretended that the government abides by the Constitution .
Those who wrote our Constitution sought to ensure our freedoms by creating a document that protects our God-given rights at all times , even when we are engaged in war , whether that is a so-called war on terrorism , a so-called war on drugs , a so-called war on illegal immigration , or a so-called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each successive presidential administration to rule by fiat merely plays into the hands of those who would distort the government ’ s system of checks and balances and its constitutional separation of powers beyond all recognition .
Remember , these powers do not expire at the end of a president ’ s term .
They remain on the books , just waiting to be used or abused by the next political demagogue .
So , too , every action taken by Trump and his predecessors to weaken the system of checks and balances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and expand the power of the executive branch of government has made us that much more vulnerable to those who would abuse those powers in the future .
Although the Constitution invests the President with very specific , limited powers , in recent years , American presidents ( Trump , Obama , Bush , Clinton , etc . )
have claimed the power to completely and almost unilaterally alter the landscape of this country for good or for ill .
The Trump Administration ’ s willingness to circumvent the Constitution by leaning heavily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers constitutes a gross perversion of what limited power the Constitution affords the executive branch .
The powers amassed by each successive president through the negligence of Congress and the courts—powers which add up to a toolbox of terror for an imperial ruler—empower whomever occupies the Oval Office to act as a dictator , above the law and beyond any real accountability .
In other words , each successive president continues to add to his office ’ s list of extraordinary orders and directives , expanding the reach and power of the presidency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ powers .
This abuse of presidential powers has been going on for so long that it has become the norm , the Constitution be damned .
We no longer have a system of checks and balances .
All of the imperial powers amassed by Barack Obama and George W. Bush and now Trump—to kill American citizens without due process , to detain suspects ( including American citizens ) indefinitely , to strip Americans of their citizenship rights , to carry out mass surveillance on Americans without probable cause , to wage wars without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wartime , to disregard laws with which he might disagree , to conduct secret wars and convene secret courts , to sanction torture , to sidestep the legislatures and courts with executive orders and signing statements , to direct the military to operate beyond the reach of the law , to establish a standing army on American soil , to operate a shadow government , to declare national emergencies for any manipulated reason , and to act as a dictator and a tyrant , above the law and beyond any real accountability—have become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s toolbox of terror .
These presidential powers—acquired through the use of executive orders , decrees , memorandums , proclamations , national security directives and legislative signing statements and which can be activated by any sitting president—enable past , president and future presidents to operate above the law and beyond the reach of the Constitution .
Think on this : the presidential election is right around the corner .
Suddenly , the improbable possibility of any incumbent president attempting to extend the police state ’ s stranglehold on power by using current events @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an election—forfeiting the people ’ s rights to govern altogether—and establishing a totalitarian regime seems less far-fetched than it did even a few years ago .
The emergency state is now out in the open for all to see .
Unfortunately , “ we the people ” refuse to see what ’ s before us .
Most Americans , fearful and easily controlled , would sooner rouse themselves to fight for that last roll of toilet paper than they would their own freedoms .
This is how freedom dies .
We erect our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights dwindle away , we forge our own chains of servitude to the police state .
Be warned , however : once you surrender your freedoms to the government—no matter how compelling the reason might be for doing so—you can never get them back .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , no government willingly relinquishes power .
If we continue down this road , there can be no surprise about what awaits us at the end .
The America metamorphosing before our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I grew up in , and that ’ s not just tragic—it ’ s downright terrifying .
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute , where this article ( Suspending the Constitution : Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers ) was originally published .
He is the author of A Government of Wolves : The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto .

Suspending the Constitution: Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers
John W. Whitehead, Rutherford
Waking Times
“That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn’t even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn’t even an enemy you could put your finger on.”― Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
You can always count on the government to take advantage of a crisis, legitimate or manufactured.
This coronavirus pandemic is no exception.
Not only are the federal and state governments unraveling the constitutional fabric of the nation with lockdown mandates that are sending the economy into a tailspin and wreaking havoc with our liberties, but they are also rendering the citizenry fully dependent on the government for financial handouts, medical intervention, protection and sustenance.
Unless we find some way to rein in the government’s power grabs, the fall-out will be epic.
Everything I have warned about for years—government overreach, invasive surveillance, martial law, abuse of powers, militarized police, weaponized technology used to track and control the citizenry, and so on—has coalesced into this present moment.
The government’s shameless exploitation of past national emergencies for its own nefarious purposes pales in comparison to what is presently unfolding.
It’s downright Machiavellian.
Deploying the same strategy it used with 9/11 to acquire greater powers under the USA Patriot Act, the police state—a.k.a. the shadow government, a.k.a. the Deep State—has been anticipating this moment for years, quietly assembling a wish list of lockdown powers that could be trotted out and approved at a moment’s notice.
It should surprise no one, then, that the Trump Administration has asked Congress to allow it to suspend parts of the Constitution whenever it deems it necessary during this coronavirus pandemic and “other” emergencies.
It’s that “other” emergencies part that should particularly give you pause, if not spur you to immediate action (by action, I mean a loud and vocal, apolitical, nonpartisan outcry and sustained, apolitical, nonpartisan resistance).
In fact, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been quietly trotting out and testing a long laundry list of terrifying powers that override the Constitution.
We’re talking about lockdown powers (at both the federal and state level): the ability to suspend the Constitution, indefinitely detain American citizens, bypass the courts, quarantine whole communities or segments of the population, override the First Amendment by outlawing religious gatherings and assemblies of more than a few people, shut down entire industries and manipulate the economy, muzzle dissidents, “stop and seize any plane, train or automobile to stymie the spread of contagious disease,” reshape financial markets, create a digital currency (and thus further restrict the use of cash), determine who should live or die…
You’re getting the picture now, right?
These are powers the police state would desperately like to make permanent.
Specifically, the DOJ wants to be able to indefinitely detain American citizens without trial. The DOJ also wants to be able to pause court proceedings and suspend the statute of limitations on criminal and civil cases.
Both signify a clear violation of every right espoused in the Constitution, including habeas corpus.
Habeas corpus, a fundamental tenet of English common law that guards against arbitrary and lawless state action, does not appear anywhere in the Bill of Rights. Its importance was such that it was enshrined in the Constitution itself. And it is of such magnitude that all other rights, including those in the Bill of Rights, are dependent upon it. Without habeas corpus, the significance of all other rights crumbles.
The right of habeas corpus was important to the Framers of the Constitution because they knew from personal experience what it was like to be labeled enemy combatants, imprisoned indefinitely and not given the opportunity to appear before a neutral judge. Believing that such arbitrary imprisonment is “in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instrument of tyranny,” the Founders were all the more determined to protect Americans from such government abuses.
Translated as “you should have the body,” habeas corpus is a legal action, or writ, by which those imprisoned unlawfully can seek relief from their imprisonment. Derived from English common law, habeas corpus first appeared in the Magna Carta of 1215 and is the oldest human right in the history of English-speaking civilization. The doctrine of habeas corpus stems from the requirement that a government must either charge a person or let him go free.
While serving as President, Thomas Jefferson addressed the essential necessity of habeas corpus. In his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801, Jefferson said, “I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough.” But, said Jefferson, our nation was “the world’s best hope” and, because of our strong commitment to democracy, “the strongest government on earth.” Jefferson said that the sum of this basic belief was found in the “freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.”
Throughout the twentieth century, the importance of the right of habeas corpus has repeatedly been confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet 200-plus years after America’s founders risked their lives to secure their freedoms, we find ourselves right back where we started, with a government determined to strip us of every vestige of our freedoms.
The DOJ’s latest request to Congress is merely a signal that the police state is ready to step out of the shadows, with the current national emergency being a convenient cover for their dastardly deeds.
Bear in mind, however, that these powers the Trump Administration, acting on orders from the police state, are officially asking Congress to recognize and authorize barely scratch the surface of the far-reaching powers the government has already unilaterally claimed for itself.
Unofficially, the police state has been riding roughshod over the rule of law for years now without any pretense of being reined in or restricted in its power grabs by Congress, the courts or the citizenry.
As David C. Unger, observes in The Emergency State: America’s Pursuit of Absolute Security at All Costs:
“For seven decades we have been yielding our most basic liberties to a secretive, unaccountable emergency state – a vast but increasingly misdirected complex of national security institutions, reflexes, and beliefs that so define our present world that we forget that there was ever a different America. … Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have given way to permanent crisis management: to policing the planet and fighting preventative wars of ideological containment, usually on terrain chosen by, and favorable to, our enemies. Limited government and constitutional accountability have been shouldered aside by the kind of imperial presidency our constitutional system was explicitly designed to prevent.”
This rise of an “emergency state” that justifies all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security is all happening according to schedule.
The civil unrest, the national emergencies, “unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters,” the government’s reliance on the armed forces to solve domestic political and social problems, the implicit declaration of martial law packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security: the powers-that-be have been planning and preparing for such a crisis for years now, not just with active shooter drills and lockdowns and checkpoints and heightened danger alerts, but with a sensory overload of militarized, battlefield images—in video games, in movies, on the news—that acclimate us to life in a police state.
Whether or not this particular crisis is of the government’s own making is not the point: to those for whom power and profit are everything, the end always justifies the means.
The seeds of this present madness were sown several decades ago when George W. Bush stealthily issued two presidential directives that granted the president the power to unilaterally declare a national emergency, which is loosely defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.“
Comprising the country’s Continuity of Government (COG) plan, these directives (National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20), which do not need congressional approval, provide a skeletal outline of the actions the president will take in the event of a “national emergency.”
Mind you, that national emergency can take any form, can be manipulated for any purpose and can be used to justify any end goal—all on the say so of the president.
Just what sort of actions the president will take once he declares a national emergency can barely be discerned from the barebones directives. However, one thing is clear: in the event of a national emergency, the president will become a dictator because while the COG directives ensure the continuity of executive branch functions, they do not provide for repopulating or reconvening Congress or the Supreme Court.
Thus, a debilitating attack would give unchecked executive, legislative and judicial power to the executive branch and its unelected minions. The country would then be subjected to martial law by default, and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be suspended.
Originally devised as a plan for quickly restoring constitutional government, the COG concept arose during the Cold War. The fear was that a nuclear strike would paralyze the federal government.
These concerns continued into the 1980s.
Under President Ronald Reagan, an elaborate plan was created in which three teams consisting of a cabinet member, an executive chief of staff and military and intelligence officials would practice evacuating and directing a counter nuclear strike against the Soviet Union from a variety of high-tech, mobile command vehicles. If the president and vice president were both killed, one of these teams would take control, with the ranking cabinet official serving as president.
Among those Reagan handpicked to advise an inexperienced and potentially incompetent successor in a time of crisis were Congressman Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, then a business executive with G. D. Searle & Co. At least once a year during the 1980s, Cheney and Rumsfeld vanished on top-secret training missions, where each of the teams practiced evacuating and directing a counter nuclear strike against Russia.
This all changed after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when it became clear that the assumptions that drove COG planning during the Cold War no longer applied: there would be no warning against a so-called “terrorist” attack. Thus, instead of relying on part-time bureaucrats and evacuation schematics, the Bush administration permanently appointed executive officials, stationed outside the capital, to run a shadow government.
The U.S. military has reportedly already been given standby orders under COG for this present coronavirus pandemic.
The plans for the shadow government administered by those who run the Deep State are more elaborate than many realize. Massive underground bunkers the size of small cities are sprinkled throughout the country for the government elite to escape to in the event of a national emergency. Mount Weather, near Bluemont, Va., is one of a number of such facilities. Built into the side of a mountain, this bunker contains, among other things, a hospital, crematorium, dining and recreation areas, sleeping quarters, reservoirs of drinking and cooling water, an emergency power plant and a radio/television studio.
There is also an Office of the Presidency at Mount Weather, which regularly receives top-secret national security information from all the federal departments and agencies. This facility was largely unknown to everyone, including Congress, until it came to light in the mid-1970s. Military personnel connected to the bunker have refused to reveal any information about it, even before congressional committees. In fact, Congress has no oversight, budgetary or otherwise, on Mount Weather, and the specifics of the facility remain top-secret.
What is the bottom line here?
We are, for all intents and purposes, one crisis away from having a full-fledged authoritarian state emerge from the shadows, at which time democratic government will be dissolved and the country will be ruled by an unelected bureaucracy.
This is exactly the kind of mischief that Thomas Jefferson warned against when he cautioned, “In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Thus far, we have at least pretended that the government abides by the Constitution.
Those who wrote our Constitution sought to ensure our freedoms by creating a document that protects our God-given rights at all times, even when we are engaged in war, whether that is a so-called war on terrorism, a so-called war on drugs, a so-called war on illegal immigration, or a so-called war on disease.
The attempts by each successive presidential administration to rule by fiat merely plays into the hands of those who would distort the government’s system of checks and balances and its constitutional separation of powers beyond all recognition.
Remember, these powers do not expire at the end of a president’s term. They remain on the books, just waiting to be used or abused by the next political demagogue.
So, too, every action taken by Trump and his predecessors to weaken the system of checks and balances, sidestep the rule of law, and expand the power of the executive branch of government has made us that much more vulnerable to those who would abuse those powers in the future.
Although the Constitution invests the President with very specific, limited powers, in recent years, American presidents (Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, etc.) have claimed the power to completely and almost unilaterally alter the landscape of this country for good or for ill.
The Trump Administration’s willingness to circumvent the Constitution by leaning heavily on the president’s so-called emergency powers constitutes a gross perversion of what limited power the Constitution affords the executive branch.
The powers amassed by each successive president through the negligence of Congress and the courts—powers which add up to a toolbox of terror for an imperial ruler—empower whomever occupies the Oval Office to act as a dictator, above the law and beyond any real accountability.
As law professor William P. Marshall explains, “every extraordinary use of power by one President expands the availability of executive branch power for use by future Presidents.” Moreover, it doesn’t even matter whether other presidents have chosen not to take advantage of any particular power, because “it is a President’s action in using power, rather than forsaking its use, that has the precedential significance.”
In other words, each successive president continues to add to his office’s list of extraordinary orders and directives, expanding the reach and power of the presidency and granting him- or herself near dictatorial powers.
This abuse of presidential powers has been going on for so long that it has become the norm, the Constitution be damned.
We no longer have a system of checks and balances.
“The system of checks and balances that the Framers envisioned now lacks effective checks and is no longer in balance,” concludes Marshall. “The implications of this are serious. The Framers designed a system of separation of powers to combat government excess and abuse and to curb incompetence. They also believed that, in the absence of an effective separation-of-powers structure, such ills would inevitably follow. Unfortunately, however, power once taken is not easily surrendered.”
All of the imperial powers amassed by Barack Obama and George W. Bush and now Trump—to kill American citizens without due process, to detain suspects (including American citizens) indefinitely, to strip Americans of their citizenship rights, to carry out mass surveillance on Americans without probable cause, to wage wars without congressional authorization, to suspend laws during wartime, to disregard laws with which he might disagree, to conduct secret wars and convene secret courts, to sanction torture, to sidestep the legislatures and courts with executive orders and signing statements, to direct the military to operate beyond the reach of the law, to establish a standing army on American soil, to operate a shadow government, to declare national emergencies for any manipulated reason, and to act as a dictator and a tyrant, above the law and beyond any real accountability—have become a permanent part of the president’s toolbox of terror.
These presidential powers—acquired through the use of executive orders, decrees, memorandums, proclamations, national security directives and legislative signing statements and which can be activated by any sitting president—enable past, president and future presidents to operate above the law and beyond the reach of the Constitution.
Think on this: the presidential election is right around the corner.
Suddenly, the improbable possibility of any incumbent president attempting to extend the police state’s stranglehold on power by using current events to justify postponing or doing away with an election—forfeiting the people’s rights to govern altogether—and establishing a totalitarian regime seems less far-fetched than it did even a few years ago.
The emergency state is now out in the open for all to see. Unfortunately, “we the people” refuse to see what’s before us. Most Americans, fearful and easily controlled, would sooner rouse themselves to fight for that last roll of toilet paper than they would their own freedoms.
This is how freedom dies.
We erect our own prison walls, and as our rights dwindle away, we forge our own chains of servitude to the police state.
Be warned, however: once you surrender your freedoms to the government—no matter how compelling the reason might be for doing so—you can never get them back.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, no government willingly relinquishes power.
If we continue down this road, there can be no surprise about what awaits us at the end.
The America metamorphosing before our eyes is almost unrecognizable from the country I grew up in, and that’s not just tragic—it’s downright terrifying.
About the Author
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute, where this article (Suspending the Constitution: Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers) was originally published. He is the author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State and The Change Manifesto.