Throughout history, humankind has witnessed a disturbing trend that has been continually perpetuated: the suppression of the common man by ruthless tyrants.  Even in the twenty-first century, we are still presented with the imminent danger of tyrants gaining unprecedented power over their subjects. Have we, as a civilization, failed to learn from the vicious lessons of the previous century, which brought 160 million dead?   

    In the United States today, we are faced with two choices according to our government.  On one hand, we can sacrifice our liberties and forfeit some of our revered freedoms; or, we can retain our liberties and freedom, which will exponentially increase our risk of being attacked by "terrorists" that wish to bring harm to us because we are free and prosperous -- or so the U.S. government says.  Benjamin Franklin once intimated that, "Those who would sacrifice freedom for security, deserve neither freedom nor security."  Benjamin Franklin saw the propensity for tyranny to become a reality some 230 years ago.  Upon the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin exited the Pennsylvania State House and was approached by several inquisitive people that desired to know what government the founding fathers had given them.  Benjamin Franklin succinctly stated, " A republic if you can keep it." 

    In our opinion, tyranny is now at our proverbial doorstep in the United States.  For example, our government now eavesdrops on the telephone conversations of its citizens without warrants.  In 2001, President Bush received the power to declare any American citizen an "enemy combatant" which prevents an American citizen -- with inherent rights which protects against unlawful detention in the form of the United States Constitution -- the right to challenge their detention; moreover, this tyrannical-like statue abolishes one of the main tenets of a democratic republic -- habeas corpus.  If you are not familiar with the enemy combatant definition, let us give to you the proper denotation according to the Bush administration and the Department of Justice: an enemy combatant is simply anyone that the illicit Bush administration or the paradoxically criminal Department of Justice deems a threat to national security.

    The Bush administration says that they are only taking measures to ensure our safety, however, it is our belief that these warmongering fanatics are eerily reminiscent of the ruling party in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.  In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, we see the protagonist, Winston Smith, jailed for subversive crimes (copulating with a young woman and daring to stand up in the face of tyranny) against Big Brother.  Hypothetically, if George Bush wanted to jail us indefinitely, for any crime, then he would be within the law.  The United States has become George Orwell's fictional country of Oceania.  Will we heed the call and stand up to the incremental tyranny that our government is now administering upon us, or will we meet the same fate as the people in George Orwell's Oceania?  The answer to 1984 is 1776.