Traditionally spying is an activity uniquely suited to a closed society such as monarchy, dictatorship, or oligarchy. Spying could not flourish in a true democracy which, by its inherent nature, must be an open society—at the opposite pole of the political spectrum from a closed society.

Traditionally spying has been an activity restricted to power groups wanting to keep tabs on real, or imagined, enemies to learn of threats to their power. It is how a privileged Establishment knows when its oppressed commoners are ready to explode into revolt, and what their plans and who their leaders are. Spying makes it easier for an Establishment to eliminate its perceived enemies and to retain its power.

Yet today, the U.S.A. possesses government spy agencies, private spy agencies, military spy agencies, and spy agencies within spy agencies. Truly strange behavior for a so-called "democracy." The U.S. has a long history of hosting spys and spy agencies for, despite common belief that the U.S. is a working democracy, this country has never been a true democracy, but merely a pseudo-democracy. One that has been structured to appear a democracy by going through the motions of a democracy.

So, is the spying on the American people really to protect the American people, or the families and groups of the American Establishment?

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, wealthy factory owners—part of the American ruling class—used the services of detective agencies, like the Pinkerton Detective Agency, to spy upon workers and to forcibly break up strikes and union meetings.

Inhuman working conditions had produced a country awash with worker unrest. Labor strikes were the order of the day as unions began to flex their new muscle. When a series of bombings wracked the nation, the attorney general publicly blamed them on "immigrant, communist, union agitators." When a bomb destroyed the front of his house, he asked congress for the power to fight the alleged communist "Red Menace." He established a General Intelligence Division within the Bureau of Investigation to spy upon Americans holding "incorrect" political views.

With little regard for due process of law, the Justice Department raided labor union halls in twelve cities, arresting, brutally beating, and deporting hundreds of workers. All without constitutional authority to take such actions. All without conclusive proof as to the source of the bombings—which to this day remains unknown.

What happened in 1919 is not very different than what's happening today. After September 11th, the Justice Department asked for, and was given, extended spying and police powers. The U.S.A. Patriot Act, passed last October by our political representatives and approved by our unelected president, gave the department legal authority to use new state-of-the-art technologies to make it easier for professional spys to spy. Before passage of this law, federal agents had to tell the court which specific phone lines they wished to wiretap, and submit sufficient proof that the suspect did use the lines. The new law permits agents to randomly and arbitrarily tap any—and all—phone lines without probable cause.

Using the spy satellite called "Carnivore," government spys can now—legally—trace the path of your web-surfing as well as the chat rooms you frequent to analyze your interests and see if you pose a danger to society. This, we are told, will make it easier to "identify terrorists" and to "protect Americans." As in 1919, the Justice Department today profiles, harasses, and persecutes, not merely foreign workers, but American citizens of semitic heritage.

Some Semitic visitors to this country are also treated as "enemies" Many are being detained for long periods of time without reason other than being semitic, much as workers were harassed, detained and deported in 1919 by the Justice Department without just cause, other than fitting the profile of "immigrant, communist, union agitator." Conclusive proof to the identity of those who plotted the 1919 bombings has never been found. Many Americans believe that conclusive proof establishing all of the plotters of the September 11th bombing has not been presented.

Again, I ask the question for you to answer—is all the spying on the American people and the lying to them by elected officials to protect the American people—or to protect the status quo of American Establishment families and groups?