Bloody Mother's Day in New Orleans on May 13 became the most recent in a series of terrorist attacks in the U.S. in a short period. After the bombings in Boston came a terrorist attack during a car rally in Atlanta (4/16), the sabotage shooting of a power substation in the Silicon Valley (4/17), massive explosions in Texas (4/18), an announcement that seven more bombs had been found in Boston (4/20)…
Why Boston and Texas? Why, several hours before the explosions in Texas, did Republican Gregg Abbot, the attorney general of that state and a likely gubernatorial candidate, declare to his fellow party members that President Obama and his Democrat supporters are «far more dangerous» than the leader of North Korea, who had threatened a nuclear attack on the U.S.?
The media focused all its attention on the Boston marathon, while in Texas, even according to official figures, many more people died than in Boston. After the explosion at the fertilizer plant, eyewitnesses reported that «between 70 and 100 houses have been destroyed… the town looks like a war zone. Several buildings are on fire, including a school and a nursing home… The entire town of West is being evacuated».
Boston is a symbolic city for those who in the U.S. are called «right-wing patriots» or WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). On April 15, 2011, after massive protests against the economic policy of the White House in over 300 American cities, a protest movement called the «Tea Party» emerged. This name alludes to the famous «Boston Tea Party», an 18th century protest which served as a starting point for the civil war in the British colonies which grew into the American War for Independence. In autumn 2011 the «Occupy movement» appeared. Both movements consider the federal government to be a «problem».
The 11 seats in Congress, 3 seats in the Senate and 1 gubernatorial seat (South Carolina) which have been won by Tea Party candidates speak of the potential for a new «Boston Tea Party». In several states, «Tea Party» leaders immediately raised the issue of reinforcing the troops of patriotic militias. The first of these is Oklahoma, where on April 19, 1995 Timothy McVeigh, a veteran of the First Iraq War and a sympathizer with such paramilitary groups, blew up a federal building, killing over 160 people. The Oklahoma City Bombing, which was the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history until the events of September 11, 2001, was committed as revenge for the deaths of 79 members of the «Branch Davidian» sect. The FBI wiped them out on April 19, 1993 near the very same town in Texas which on April 19, 2013, exactly 20 years later, became the site of the latest monstrous explosions, which received very little media coverage. The members of the sect, who were bombed from helicopters and burned alive, were (like revenge bomber McVeigh) connected with the right-wing patriotic militia movement, which soon added armed clashes with the authorities on the territory of Texas to their «assets».
Texas is currently the most militarized and unreliable state with regard to separatist sentiments and economic self-sufficiency, and is demanding that the Federal Reserve return its gold. Several hours before the fertilizer plant explosion, Gregg Abbott announced that he had «sent a letter…informing the president that Texas is not going to tolerate this cession of authority to the U.N.», meaning that Texans refuse to disarm and acknowledge Obama's signing of an arms trade treaty ratified April 2 of this year by the General Assembly of the U.N., which is categorically opposed by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
The NRA is one of the oldest civic organizations in the U.S. and has been in existence since 1871. For a long time it was a semi-governmental organization which took on the function of the Defense Department in training new recruits and maintaining the qualifications of the Army Reserve. One can find its members in many civic commissions and even in the Oval Office; 8 U.S. presidents have been members, including Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan. The NRA is backed by corporations in the defense industry, which makes up the lion's share of the U.S. budget; these include Lockheed Martin, the largest defense industry enterprise in the world, which receives 95% of its revenue from Pentagon contracts.
The NRA has over 4.5 million members, and they are rapidly being turned into «enemy No. 1» in the U.S. since the demise of Ben Laden. This is being actively helped along by Hollywood stars; leftist documentary filmmakers like Michael Moore; feminists; gay activists; Blacks, who are constantly reminded that they were once called «niggers» at NRA meetings; and Internet accounts such as «Mothers Against the NRA»; as well as intelligence agencies and private military companies (PMCs). Here one cannot but mention the media hype containing elements of anti-gun PR over mass shootings such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where in December 2012 28 people were killed, including 20 children.
In 2008 and 2012, the NRA, which is supported by right-wing Republicans, spent tens of millions of dollars on initiatives against Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Today the NRA, which actively speaks out against Obama, is a haven for right-wing radicals, «Boston Tea Party» activists, the «Occupy movement», paramilitary patriotic militias, and judeo- and islamophobes.
The conservative White population of the U.S. is rapidly arming itself after the reelection of a Black president. Firearm purchases in the U.S. have experienced record growth in 2013, and the American Internet is filled with messages like «65.376.373 Americans 'Arm Up' before Civil War». In addition to the more than 65 million assault rifles which have been purchased by U.S. citizens over the past few months, one must count about 300 million registered firearms and around the same number of unregistered guns in the hands of the populace, that is, there are approximately 2 guns for each person in the U.S. population of 315 million! In spring 2013 campaigns began in some states to distribute free guns to the populace (the Armed Citizen Project and others), initiated by right-wing Republican politicians such as Tucson, Arizona mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky. In South Dakota a law has been passed allowing school districts to arm teachers starting in July 2013, and in Utah and Kansas carrying weapons on the territory of schools is already allowed…
The media reports that since February 2013 «more and more Americans are signing up for survival courses» and going through training in the Florida woods, since, in the words of activists in this movement, «According to the U.S. Constitution, citizens are obligated to defend their country, no matter who the threat is coming from: foreign invaders or their own government»! Usually when making such declarations, people say that «the Second Amendment is not about the right to shoot deer; it is about the right to shoot tyrants».
NRA and Tea Party activists have been holding meetings of several thousand people in support of the Second Amendment and against government gun control initiatives since early 2013 as part of the «Guns Across America» project and reinforcing paramilitary organizations, whose activists are frequently detained by police or serve time for possession of explosives or violent activities. The massive growth of the patriotic organizations which arose in Texas after the annihilation of the Branch Davidian sect in April 1993 has been stimulated in recent years by antagonism against single-sex marriages, a Black president, etc. Today the number of militarized clandestine troops operating in America's 50 states is over 400,000 fighting men.
According to the results of a study conducted throughout the country on April 22-28 of this year and published by the largest private university in New Jersey (Fairleigh Dickinson University), 29% of U.S. citizens are already prepared for an armed uprising and feel that «in the next few years an armed revolution might be necessary» in the name of protecting American rights and freedoms.
However, in the opinion of Green Beret officer and terrorism expert Joe Cortina, «As long as Joe Six-Pack has his cold Bud and his large-screen TV, he will endure any kind of abuse». Of course, snowballing economic problems might deprive Joe Six-Pack of his beer, his TV, and his social benefits in the near future, making the «armed revolution» scenario a reality.
The fact that the dominating influence of the U.S. in the world economic, military and political spheres will soon be a thing of the past is already being openly discussed by leading American political scientists and economists (see, for example, the National Intelligence Council report Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World). They predict that the next decade will be one of severe economic crisis for the U.S. which could lead to the collapse of government finances and trigger the most massive political crisis since the time of the Civil War. The main factors are a split of the elite, sentiments of protest among the populace, «a degrading economy and a loss of military power».
At present the rigid economic plan of budget sequestration calls for $100 billion in federal budget cuts each year for the next 10 years. This will lead to a massive reduction in jobs and healthcare, make education less accessible and completely wipe out social programs financed by the federal budget. The New York Times (Feb. 24, 2013) writes: «In private, Capitol Hill staff members and members of Congress have admitted that there are no viable plans on the horizon to delay or offset the cuts».
The dollar is rapidly losing its position as the world reserve currency. Since early 2013, Americans have been converting their dollars into gold and silver coins. Sales of such coins in the U.S. have been breaking all historical records each month. According to the Federal Reserve, in the period of January 2-9, people withdrew over 114 billion dollars from accounts in the country's 25 largest banks. The volume of private deposits is dropping each month, signified by a record (since the September 11 attack) outflow of funds from personal accounts. Commentators note that «such behavior is typical of a populace in a period of political and economic upheavals, abrupt devaluation of the national currency, loss of confidence in the banking system and anticipation of unpopular reforms».
Let us note that on the eve of the series of explosions in Boston, Texas and other places, the most significant drop in gold prices in over 30 years was observed on the financial market. And April 15, when there was a collapse in the prices of gold and oil on the leading stock markets, was the day of the terrorist attack in Boston, which diverted attention from everything else.
Obama's «leftist socialist» policy, as Washington's hawks call the course of the current president, evokes harsh criticism from them, first of all because of delays in beginning military operations against Syria and Iran, the administration's «betrayal» of Israel and Afghanistan and the reduction of military spending. This year the funding of military and social programs in the U.S. will be cut by $85 billion, and over the next 10 years spending on these items will be reduced by another $1.2 trillion. The Pentagon will be forced to send thousands of specialists on unpaid leave, eliminate personnel training, etc.
In the meantime, influential Republican congressmen are branding Obama's policy with regard to Russia as «the president's secret treaty with the Russians» in publications such as Foreign Policy.
However, the U.S. is still ahead of the entire planet in terms of militarization. Even the slashed military budget for 2014 exceeds those of China, Russia, and the European Union put together. U.S. industry runs on war, since «peaceful» manufacturing has been moved to countries with cheap labor. No new wars means no revenue for the arms corporations which stand behind the Republicans and the «right-wing patriots». If firearms aren't shooting outside the country, they could open fire within it.
(To be continued)
Foto: Shaun McClusky poses in a gun shop with a shotgun model to be given away to fellow citizens
