Snowden's Mission Accomplished? What's Next?

Well, Jack (Snowden) is still in the clouds. Cupping his hands, he's yelling down the  now limp beanstalk, "Mission Accomplished." I guess he got hoarse from yelling (revealing) rose-colored secrets he unearthed (unclouded?) of the dealings used by the Spy Programs to maintain the power of those in power.  He now wants to end his significant Spy for Main Street tenure, come down the beanstalk and resume his life. What he isn't carrying, however, is the Golden Goose that lays the golden eggs. Someone else will have to climb up the now limp and even more dangerous beanstalk for them. One man can only do so much alone.

In saying that Snowden was a spy for Main Street and his mission was accomplished, what are we actually saying? First, Main Street never employed Snowden to be a spy. Snowden's employer was Circumstance. So it's probably more appropriate to say, Snowden was a spy from Main Street hired by Circumstance.

Either way, now what? Does it matter that we now know some of the important details and part of the extent of the spy programs against Main Street?

The Transparency Kick

We appear to be waking up, getting up, and walking out the door into the Age of Real and False Quotidian Transparency. Almost accurate. We also live it behind the closed doors of our homes and inside our cars. It's hard to find a closet or cave to get some privacy in. We have a problem that matters. The transparency kick--first voiced by Obama during his campaign--we're on is not all that it's made out to be. This new lethal toy--transparency--has been turned against the people in order to maintain obedience and used systematically against the government in order to maintain obedience on Main Street. The ugly side to making Washington transparent is that the Obama administration has made transparency the goal, the win, the endpoint, with nothing of much importance to follow except Now you know! Get in line anyway.

How democratic!

Actually no. All totalitarian states make sure that their citizens know they are spied on. That's one way they maintain their power and keep Main Street obedient. For example, Russian citizens know they are spied on.

Since Snowden's job is done, we can review who is benefiting from the transparency of the revelations and how.

First, those being on spied on certainly benefit by knowing they are being spied on. Not because they now know. What's the benefit in that? So you know you have cancer? It's good to know, yes. But knowing is less than half of the benefit and fizzles into no benefit at all without the cure. What's the cure? There are several ways to cure cancer. Perhaps there are multiple ways to cure this disease that has infected Main Street and threatens to debilitate if not kill. Where do we start? That should be a main goal of Main Street's for 2014. Perhaps Occupy is a good starting point.

What do we--not Snowden--do with the information he's been shouting and dropping out of the clouds? What exactly are the golden eggs? What exactly is the Golden Goose in this? Since he's leaving these behind once he climbs down the stalk, how do we get both? Where is this beanstalk anyway? We could use a few real Main Street Think Tanks as well as a few real Main Street Funds. Instead of giving money to political parties, to organizations, to useless vendors for useless objects, we might consider establishing a fund for Main Street. Occupy has the right idea in setting up funds for struggling homeowners or victims of natural disasters. But with a billion dollar fund to pay for lost wages and benefits, a lot of people on Main Street could feel secure enough to engage in a general strike to put an end to the spy programs against it and to the Austerity Program, the two are Orwellian linked. Keeping people strung out on debt or shaky survival creates more obedience. It's all about the money at this point.

Benefits to NSA

Unfortunately, those doing the spying will continue to benefit more at this point from Snowden's revelations unless Main Street takes the next step. These programs have the Golden Goose and Golden eggs in their vaults.  By convincing Main Street it has no choice but to be spied on (even if by degree) the NSA keeps the goose and eggs and wins big time. Now that Main Street knows it may even bring relief to those trying to keep the the spy programs less hidden, Now they can play more video games or take more vacations. Out in the open, these programs can be run easier, more efficiently and guess what, even save the taxpayers money. Mostly, the NSA wins as long as the programs continue and as long as they continue to be accepted without a fight.

Who's Intact

Snowden may be out of America but appears intact. Everything at the NSA and other programs appear intact as well. Very little or nothing has changed on its end. Even its behavior deemed unconstitutional hasn't dented much. The NSA even denies its spying is spying. Courts continue to deem spying okay. Even Congress wanting to know if the NSA is spying on it doesn't incite outrage. Obama's transparency program continues to applaud transparency so he can assure the public that everything is just fine.

WikiLeaks Steps Up to the Microphone

At the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, Sarah Harrison (who traveled with and stayed with Snowden for four months) reveals what WikiLeaks has revealed.  Speaking from the Ecuadorean  Julian Assange is calling for computer hackers to unite against NSA.


My novel, Plato's Screw is now available in ebook at Amazon. It will be available in print in late January. Plato's Screw is a satire on love, work and surveillance.

The Wrong Transparency? More on WikiLeaks Cablegate

I try to keep track of how regimes redefine terms or blur contrary terms together in order to neutralize, change or demonize the connotations of the terms, in order to control public perception. [UPDATE] So when I say that America may be inadvertently putting into place the rails of totalitarism for the society to ride on, I don't do so based on the sound of a fury caused by a political whirlwind. I don't do so without having gone for long walks or without having wept at the Great Restructuring that is dawning. Noam Chomsky warns, "fascism may be coming to the United States." I've been watching the rails being laid for a time. I've been riding them and trying to keep myself intact.

To partly digress, I admit, I thought, along with others, that the Obama presidency would get us into the streets to make the great changes we needed to re-establish democracy in this country. I thought we were going to ride the train together out of Bush Cheney Rove and banks, Inc., and that Obama would not try to stop us. I thought we would rally together to push or kick in the door Obama said he was leaving open for us. I really thought we'd rush though the door and grab our rightful seat at the table. I'm talking about those of us who want social justice and economic stability for all. Those of us who want to see the end of gender and racial discrimination. Those of us want to make sure the disabled and those prone to bad luck aren't left to die in some ditch but are given the needed tools to lead lives of dignity.  I have to say I'm stunned at how wrong I was. Being neither a democrat nor republican, I'm stunned all the more. The only people who got through the open door were the Tea Party crowd, with their misguided but highly crafted rants. In many case, rants against their own interests in the guise of rants against Obama. In many cases, just a bunch of disgruntled but ignorant Americans used as foils and cardboard ads to unintentionally derail humanism and democracy and rally around corporate survival. The only others getting through Obama's ajar door easily can be found on Wall Street, in private planes or giant yachts, in the beds of monarchs and dictators, and walking in from the industrial complex, which doesn't surprise me, since these particular groups either set or have memorized the passwords.  While President-elect Obama promised Wall Street and Main Street must be equal partners in getting America out of the ditch, President Obama has left Main Street at the podium now stored away until the next election cycle.  By the way, no excuses for Obama. I no longer consider him a friendly voice for we the people, we the crowd.  [UPDATE] He's either ignorant blackmailed, scared, or a liar. Regardless, we are the losers. And there isn't much time to tear up the old or new tracks or stop the train already running at full speed.

As soon as the WikiLeaks and Julian Assange gave us Cablegate, my ears perked up. Is this for real? Or us this just another scheme to rationalize even more direct and open repression against US citizens?

Let's say the secret is out now--not in the WikiLeak documents themselves, but in the  public response of government rulers to them. On the one hand, it seems to dismiss them  as innocuous (Russia, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey) while on the other hand, it finds them less than innocuous (US, Great Britain, France). Germany regretted the publication of the documents. Even with mixed responses, the  latest official  response was to quickly  ban the material and further curtail our civil rights. Servers are one by one disconnecting WikiLeaks from public access. Amazon leads the list. Furthermore, Today, after hearing the state department's warning, demanding students not discuss WikiLeaks, I'm convinced the global leaders are delighted the political gossip has surfaced. For all we know, they let it happen or even leaked the material themselves. Is this even legal? That's my point. Under democracy, no.

Just because you call yourself a democracy doesn't make you a democracy. A country has to abide by certain structures and make decisions according to certain underlying principles to be categorized as a democracy. A democratic government is not a corporation. It cannot be run like a corporation. It's counterproductive.

In defining America's failure at democracy I mean two things: 1. an authoritarian government in which rulers  leave citizens alone, for the most part, as long as they do not really threaten the power or ideology of the rulers. 2. government subordinate to corporate rule and perceptions.

So let's say the world governments are creating distractions by keeping us in fear for our lives and pocketbooks while they meet together to  reconstruct the global mindset of what it means to be human under contemporary globalism. And let's say they need us distracted because they need to do it quickly and efficiently. And let's say the image of what it means to be human in today's terms is in the corporate image of what it means to be human. [UPDATE] Let's say we are watching the remaining rails of America's failing democracy being laid for us to ride all day long, from sunrise to sunset and into our dreams.Why are we accepting it? Why don't we mind living under this kind of thumbprint in the guise of American democracy?

This is a key question for our era.

Of course, it gets very complex. No one answer exists. And no whole answer exists. Even in multiple answers we can't get to the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No one can. There will always be gaps. Even totalitarianism can't plug all of the holes or light up all the unseen. But we can start simple. We can begin by looking at the terms we use since regimes tend to redefine terms to fit their agenda and attempt to control perceptions and emotions. We have to look at how words are being redefined for us by headlines, ads, and speeches. By bosses and rulers. And we have to wake up every morning and ask why we help maintain the everyday life the regime wishes us to maintain at the cost of our own pursuit of freedom and happiness, our own security and stability, our children's futures, and humanity's past, present and future.