The Citizen Terrorist and the Terrorist State

Perhaps in a future history of the rise and fall of the United States, the tragedy of our era will be readily apparent in the light of the fact that the most dangerous enemies of our nation, and the values upon which it has been built, are firmly entrenched within its ruling political class.  As recent events make all-too-clear, the agents and apologists of the Democratic-Republican party's national security police state are engaged in an overt and sustained assault on fundamental rights and freedoms in the name of the "war on terror."  The right to be secure in one's person, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, has effectively been declared null and void by the Department of Homeland Security.  The rights to the freedom of speech and of the press, as guaranteed by the First Amendment, are currently under attack in the interests of maintaining non-transparent government and ensuring an uninformed citizenry. 

In what may be the defining political contradiction of our age, constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms are now viewed as vital threats to the security of the state.  Simply put, the interests of the national security police state are directly at odds with the fundamental rights and liberties of any free society.  The sharper this contradiction and opposition becomes, the more closely the free citizen will resemble the terrorist in the eyes of the state, and the more closely the state will resemble a terrorist organization in the eyes of the free citizen.