The Pentagon announced that it will be conducting guerilla warfare training in North Carolina in the coming weeks. The point of the exercise is to train American soldiers to battle “seasoned freedom fighters”, according to the Army. They say they made the announcement so that the public would not be shocked by the sound of weapons or the sight of the soldiers conducting war games. The exercises are going to be conducted on private lands in the western part of the state

This announcement coincides with the Department of Justice announcing the formation of a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism. According to the DOJ, “We have seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies.” What they are saying is the hysterical reaction to the January 6 protests is entirely justified as there is an invisible army out there making bombs.

Many assume this is about the ongoing shift toward treating all opposition to the regime as domestic terrorism. The color revolution they orchestrated against Trump will become a full-time revolution. Politicians will go on about the threat to our democracy while agents of the secret police drag people off for made up crimes. Liberal democracy is in its terror phase. The gross violation of rights is justified by the perpetual state of emergency over the alleged threat to the system.

There is some of that, for sure, but the FBI has been framing people as domestic terrorists for generations. They used to work with organized crime to frame people for murders committed by gangsters. That made the FBI look good and they did not have to do any real work. They orchestrated antiwar protests in the 1960’s and racial crimes in the South during the civil rights era. They framed too many people to count during the Bush years in the name of fighting Islamic terrorism.

In other words, the FBI and the rest of the intelligence agencies have never needed a reason to abuse the rights of Americans. The reason these organizations came into existence at the same time the American empire went global is every empire needs a secret police to prevent domestic enemies. Empires do not treat the core population very well, so they have to worry that the core population will get tired of sharing the wealth and revolt against their rulers.

There is another reason for these announcements. The intelligence agencies have broken free of civilian oversight. We saw this in the Trump years when they spied on his campaign and tried to frame any number of people in order to perpetuate the cover-up now known as the Russian collusion hoax. Chuck Schumer told Trump in public that he better not take on these agencies as they have a six million ways to get him. The politicians fear the intelligence community.

A big part of their power is the ability of these agencies to perpetuate fear among the people in the political class. It is why they tried to frame Congressman Matt Gaetz for sex trafficking early last year. Every member of Congress looked at what was happening and thought about their younger days. If they could ring up a sitting member of Congress for being a party boy in his youth, they will do anything. Also note how the media did not report on the disposition of the case.

That is what is going on with these ostentatious displays over the alleged domestic terrorism threat. The FBI and DOJ looked at the way the political class reacted to the January 6 protests and realized they could use their fear as a tool of control. A few times a year they will arrest some patsies for trying to attack a politician and then use these as examples at public hearings. The FBI will never have to answer another difficult question from Congress.

This is also a nice bit of insurance in case the people screw up again and vote Trump back into office. The FBI and DOJ assume that Trump will do what they would do if the roles were reversed and that is seek revenge. Any digging around in the FBI or DOJ will be met with howling about Trump’s links to domestic terrorism. The Russian collusion hoax will be replaced by the insurrection hoax. The media, of course, already knows the drill so they will be all over this too.

There is another aspect to this. Orwell noted how authoritarian regimes needed an enemy to rally the people against. He was a socialist so he naturally thought a traitor to the cause made for the best villain. Emmanuel Goldstein from 1984 and Snowball from Animal Farm were both modeled after Trotsky. Liberal democracy, on the other hand, just needs non-democratic enemies. They do not have to be from the ruling class to be a useful villain to rally support.

In the last thirty years, the empire has had many types of Muslim baddies to use as the designated threat to democracy. The American police state was built as a defense against this alleged threat. Russia has been conjured into a global threat to democracy for the same reason. Now they are manufacturing all sorts of domestic baddies to be the great threat to the system. The intelligence agencies are always right there to confirm the regimes worst fears.

It is not that people are sitting around saying, “We’ve got to protect our phony-baloney jobs, gentlemen.” This fear of what lies outside the snow globe that is imperial politics just comes naturally to people who have to no real purpose. Politics in a managerial state is ceremonial, having no real impact on life. Despite their lofty titles, the people in the political system feel utterly helpless. Fear and paranoia are the natural consequences of their impotence.

In the end, nothing much will change for the Dirt People. When the FBI needs some trophies to display to Congress, they will round up the usual suspects. Sure, many now wriggle through the net as even the dumbest have caught on to how this works, but there is always at least one idiot willing to play along. Otherwise, the domestic terrorism unit will be creating security theater for the political class. They will be the narrator telling them to fear what lies outside the Capital Beltway.

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