This is the ninth installment of my short story “The Wars”. If you haven’t already read Chapters 1 – 8 you can
< click here to read Chapter 1 >
< click here to read Chapter 2 >
< click here to read Chapter 3 >
< click here to read Chapter 4 >
< click here to read Chapter 5 >
< click here to read Chapter 6 >
< click here to read Chapter 7 >
< click here to read Chapter 8 >
< click here to read Chapter 9 >
Please read the Chapter 1 intro to understand a little more of this story.
Also, there is a disclaimer that you can read there as well.
[Dad, you’ve been around almost 100 years; a whole century almost. When did you first notice that it was going to fall apart? Or when were you convinced it was going to fall apart? I want to hear from your personal perspective.]
Dang! You make me sound old. Oh, I am old. But you didn’t have to remind me.
I think we already talked about some of the things that went on. But if you want my spin on it, you won’t find it in any history books. I gotta tell you though, it is a weird and sad trip the USA took. Really sad…and totally avoidable…I think. Maybe not.
There are so many events that could be pointed to as the turning point. But truth be told, it was the culmination of years worth of little events. Yeah, there were some big ones along the way, and they were way more frequent towards the end. But those big ones wouldn’t have been possible except for the little ones. I will just stick to the ones that I lived through, maybe going backwards. No, let me start way, way back.
I was born in the mid-1950’s, less than a decade after the end of WW2. My parents met during the war. I really can’t remember much back then as far as current events is concerned. But I remember when JFK was assassinated in 1963. I was only 8 at the time, 3rd grade, maybe 2nd. I don’t remember it all but I remember the emotion. He was a Democrat and a Catholic which didn’t sit well with my Dad. But at school it was so weird, kinda spooky for a kid back then. What I didn’t know back then, nobody did, but later it became pretty clear that that the CIA killed him, or had him killed.
It had to do with the Cuba debacle, the Bay of Pigs in 1961. And yes, JFK had called for disbanding the CIA because it was a dangerous and out-of-control agency. Even former President Truman felt the same way and reinforced JFK’s assessment. Research since 1963 has reinforced that the CIA is a force of evil in the world, a real source of evil, maybe unrivaled in the history of the world. Pity we didn’t know it back then, and we let it get completely out of control by 2000.
It was a shock when JFK was killed. And then his brother was assassinated 5 years later, 1968. Oddly enough, RFK was working against organized crime, especially the Mafia. The Mafia was well-known to be partners with the CIA. RFK was on the path to becoming President. He had to be assassinated. And oddly enough again, there is evidence that his assassin was assisted by a woman with ties to the CIA.
Also in 1968 MLK was assassinated. Once again let’s look at the facts. In 1964 the FBI tried to convince, blackmail, MLK to commit suicide. They even have the letter! That FBI scheme didn’t work. The assassin who killed him plead guilty but later recanted his confession explaining in detail how the FBI and CIA made him confess to it. In 1993 a man stepped forward and confessed he was part of the plot to kill MLK. He said it was a combination of the Mafia, the FBI, and the CIA. In 1979 the US Senate concluded the same thing. In 1999 a court trail came to the same conclusion.
But you gotta remember that back then, when it happened, we didn’t know any of that. All we knew was 3 of the most respected and influential people in the USA, hell, the world, had been ruthlessly killed. It rocked the nation to its core. I was 13 when RFK and MLK were killed, it was tough to deal with. Confusing more than anything. Burst our little safety bubble.
And at the same time there were huge protests around the country against the Vietnam War. The country was in two polar opposites; the war mongers and the peaceniks/hippies. It was the ultimate show of patriotism to be in favor of the Vietnam War. Boy did we get that wrong. But again, we didn’t know it at the time. It was all about flag waving, flag saluting, kill the gooks, save America!
And again, it was all a bunch of hooey! The US government and the military-industrial complex were getting rich and powerful off of tens of thousands of US military boys dying halfway around the world. God, we were so stupid and gullible back then. Hell, we still were right through the War on Terror!!
Nixon was a disaster. He brought China into the world as the beginning of a super power. Then he took us off the gold and silver standard. Then he started the whole price control thing. I was in my late teens by then, in the Navy. I had no idea what it meant. Now we know it ushered in the whole fiat currency thing, assuring the fall of the US Empire.
Jimmy Carter was elected after Nixon and was a warm and fuzzy relief to the turmoil of the Nixon years. But little did we know the evil in Carter’s heart. He almost single single-handedly destroyed America. He was a doomsday president and America was headed into destruction because of him. Reagan came next and he turned the economy around but was completely unable to reform the federal government. The deep state was just too strong by that time.
When George H. W. Bush was elected President the CIA finally got their wish…their own CIA agent was sitting in the White House. A “Manchurian Candidate” if there ever was one. The powers-that-be by then were ready to go full throttle on taking over the USA and turning it into a totalitarian state. But they needed a totally and completely corrupted person to be President so he would would have to do completely as he was told. And that gave us Bill Clinton, a morally corrupt and ethically bankrupt man that ever walked the earth.
Clinton waged war against any and all militias. He was responsible for the slaughter at Ruby Ridge where the FBI snipers killed a child and a mother holding an infant. That was in 1992. But that was nothing compared to the Waco Massacre. The FBI burned 78 men, women, and children alive in 1993.
Here is the disgusting, evil, and pathetic part of all of it…they got away with it. Hell, those involved all got promotions and bonuses for it. What it did was laid the groundwork for the FBI and the ATF, to be able to kill at will anyone, anywhere, at any time, for any reason and get away with it. Some of us saw what was happening but by in large the entire country bought into the fed propaganda bullshit hook line and sinker.
And here is the kicker…Clinton had the opportunity to get Osama Bin Laden but passed. And it was Bin Laden, the Muslim terrorist, that organized the 9/11 attacks in 2001. So why do you think ole Clinton passed on killing that prick?
But all of those Presidents paled in comparison to George W. Bush who was elected in 2000. That son-of-a-bitch tipped the US into an authoritarian state.
[Dad, if you, along with everyone else, saw all this happening, why didn’t you guys stop it?]
Hell son, if we had known it all back then maybe we could have. But we couldn’t see it all. We were lucky to see what was right in front of our faces.
Son, we saw bits and pieces of it. Call them ‘dots’ to make it easier to understand. Some people saw some of the dots, other saw other dots, and such. I don’t think anyone saw all of the dots. Why? Because all information was so tightly controlled prior to the Internet.
ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN were the only source of news besides newspapers and magazines. And all of those media sources were owned and controlled by a select few elites. So you only heard what they wanted you to hear. And for the most part they were tied into the federal government. A fascist arrangement if there ever was one.
The feds were a very powerful propaganda machine. Hell, they never told the truth about anything back then. Why? For one, they could lie their tails off and no one would really challenge them on it. Two, they wanted the power, craved the power, lusted after power; and information is power. And lastly, if you went up against them they could crush you whenever they wanted. Remember, we just talked about JFK, RFK, and MLK. Plenty more along with them like Ruby Ridge, Waco, and a long list of others. It was a mess, just a mess.
I will tell you this, once the Internet came along, and cell phone videos, information got out a whole lot more. You can’t lie about too much when there are videos of it out there for everyone to see. But, that even was attacked. It was 2022, maybe 2023, when the old DHS [Department of Homeland Security] started their biggest attack on the First Amendment. The even formed some BS agency within their department to label and remove ‘misinformation’ from all media. They even had a plan to prosecute and imprison anyone who published what they considered misinformation. Problem is, well, they went public with it too soon.
Granted, that whole scheme disappeared from public view after Congressional hearings. But, as we found out pretty quickly, it never was done away with, it just went underground. DHS would just identify people they wanted to silence and either their agents or the FBI would go after the people and silence them…one way or another. And there was always the social media giants that could crush, the term was “cancel”, anyone for any reason…and it was usually because the government old them to.
David, hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back we should have connected the dots. Then we should have stopped them at the ballot box when that was still possible. But we just didn’t see it. Hell, most of us were just trying to work hard, make a paycheck, and raise a family. Yeah, and maybe go hunting and fishing with their son once in a while.
I really think it was too late after Reagan. And it was certainly too late after Clinton. Clinton went after militias and the ‘militant right’ as they called em. Once the FBI, under Clinton, figured out how to massacre all those people at Waco…well, there was nothing holding them back at that point. Think about it, they burned all those men, women, and children alive…flat out murdered them. And they blatantly lied about the whole thing…and not one of those horrific, monstrous FBI criminals paid any price whatsoever for it. Hell, for the rest of their careers they all even got bonuses, raises, and promotions!
The FBI had always been a dark and sinister, almost evil, organization from the very beginning. After Waco they went completely satanic evil…and there was no stopping them. They were the second biggest threat to the US and the Constitution this country ever did see. Yeah, the CIA was #1 threat…clearly.
After Clinton came the snake-in-the-grass Bush. I call him that because he sounded like this good ole boy from Texas. A patriotic conservative, true blue, flag-waving Christian. Yeah, right. He fooled everyone, even me until 2007.
I told you probably 10 times that I met him, him and Schwarzenegger who was the governor of California at the time. We were in California on that big wildfire they had going. We had gone there from Florida with a big wildland fire engine. Bush was coming in to look over the fire damage and they found out we was from Florida. We got put up at the front of the line to shake hands when they did that meet & greet.
He talked to us for a couple of minute, shook our hands, and he even told a joke about his brother Jeb and mother. He was charismatic, engaging, and just made you feel welcome. I learned a lot about politicians from that meeting. Never, ever trust em…ever! None of them!!
Once 9/11 hit, which was before the fire, everyone got patriotic and turned into war-mongers. Everyone, including me, wanted to teach them damn Muslims a lesson. Yeah, they did it alright, no doubt about that. But, it came out later that the FAA, the CIA, and the FBI knew who they were, knew they were in the country illegally, knew they were taking flying lessons, and all of that. And yet, they never lifted a finger to stop them.
There was only one voice of sanity back then…Ron Paul. He was a Congressman from Texas. Man, he was dialed in!! Problem was, few people listened to him. And I was one of those idiots who didn’t listen to him. He was widely demeaned and belittled by the machine. Yeah, the machine being the deep state. They hated him and feared him! He knew who they were and what they were and what they were doing. We should have listened to him.
But back then everyone was waving flags, hugging their Bibles, volunteering for the military, and lusting for war like it was the only worthy things left in life. Oh man, were we wrong!
So I guess it was by the Bush Crash of 2007/08 that sealed the USA’s fate. We were locked into the US Empire falling and crashing like every empire the world had ever seen. In the following 15 years the country racked up debt that could never be repaid and every one of those scum in Washington knew it but always voted it through anyways. It was planed, orchestrated, and beautifully carried out. Till the monkey wrench got thrown into the works.
So yeah, it was a conservative Republican President that really marked the end, or took us to a no turning back point that finally put us on the path of destruction.
[Dad got quiet for a few minutes, real quiet. I felt he was reflecting so I just sat there, waiting.]
You know David, I guess in the long run it was a good thing all that happened. Kinda like the Founding Fathers, we had to see the Devil to know him. Then once we knew him, we could fix it. And that is what brought us to where we are now…a country that is what our Founding Fathers envisioned, not that hell hole that we were back in the 2020’s.
I remember still, clear as a bell, President Washington warning us about a 2-party political system. He said their only quest would be for power NOT for what was best for the country. Damn it! He was right and no one listened to him. The Republicans and Democrats were exactly the same. Both wanted nothing more than power. They both wanted to destroy the country; yup, destroy it right down to ashes. Because each of those damn parties thought they would be the ones left standing to control everything.
Yes sir, its called totalitarianism! And both of those ******* parties wanted the same thing and worked for the same thing! And so many of us idiots were blind to them every step of the way!!! Thank God enough people finally woke up!! It’s sad though to think that so many millions ended up dying in the process. They didn’t need to *** ******!!! Not a single one of them!!!!!
[Okay, Dad. I get it, I was there for a lot of it. You taught me well, you helped me and my family live though it. We not only survived but we thrived. And that is all you. Thank you Dad. Can we go walk through the garden for a bit?]
Sure son, I need that. I don’t feel so good. I got too worked up. This crap always makes me mad. At my age I can afford to do that. And then I get a bad case of potty mouth. Please clean that up a bit when you translate this.
[Dad had tears coming down his cheeks. He gets so upset and frustrated that the country had to fall apart and so many people die when it didn’t have to be that way. Who knows what it might have looked like if Dad and others hadn’t stood up and taken action. I know he blames himself for what happened. I’ve told him a thousand times it was not his fault and he couldn’t have prevented it. But it never helps, he carries guilt. The kind of guilt that I will never know because he will never share it with me, he never talks about it. I think the only person he ever really opened up to was Lisa. Without her he seems lost, like he is just marking time, waiting, waiting for him to go to the other side and be with her. I think it will be then, and only then, he will find true peace. At least I hope so. He needs peace in his life. He needs it real bad.]
<- click here to read Chapter 8 click here to read Chapter 10 ->
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