(YellowTimes.org) – "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy, but that could change." George W. Bush, 22 May 1998

President Bush spoke these prophetic words four years ago when he was Governor of Texas. At the time, the public considered it just another malapropism by the Demosthenesian-challenged orator. Indeed, the irreversible trend has been reversed with the passing of the flag-waving Patriot Act and the establishment of the reassuring Department of Homeland Security.

If history is such a great teacher, as is often said, why does the President and the rest of his administration ignore it? In pre-WWII Germany, the Nazis also had a penchant for euphemistically naming programs and laws such as the "Reichssicherheitshauptamt," the Department of Home Security, an organization whose real intent was to spy on and plant fear among its citizenry. The regime used such laws to successfully promote hatred of Jews and other minorities, thereby facilitating the resultant and devastating holocaust.

In these days of pervasive personal computer use, the ease with which memory can be erased seems to have seduced our leaders to selectively erase history. But this may be the most crucial time for Bush and company to heed Santayana's admonishment, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Before going overboard croaking about the U.S.'s ability to dictate terms at the United Nations, abrogate treaties with impunity and make other sovereign nations quake in their collective boots, Americans should consider that these excesses will inevitably redound to their country's disfavor. Instead of behaving like puffed-up frogs wallowing in the swamp created by the emergence of their country as the world's only superpower, the citizenry needs to be reminded of Lord Acton's timeless caution that, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

There are many historical examples one could choose to demonstrate Acton's axiom but let us look at the actions of one that is constantly in the news. Since its emergence as a state, and more so since becoming the Middle East's only superpower, Israel has pursued a policy of aggressive and onerous elimination and suppression of perceived enemies. In the course of executing this policy, it has created untold numbers of enemies the world over. Violence has begotten violence so many times that only a clear-headed historian could determine who provoked which act that resulted in which inevitable response. Clear-headed historians, ever in short supply, are especially rare in the Middle East.

Taking a page from Israel's infamous book, the U.S. has embarked upon similar policies with utter disregard for the demonstrated, disastrous results. Americans, egged on by their government and its slavishly subservient media, are echoing a chorus of revenge for 9/11, as witnessed by the 1,600 percent increase in violence against Muslims and institutions identified with the Muslim faith.

We are told daily that terrorists must be pursued and dealt with, as if this course will solve all our problems. As has our admired friend, Israel, we have taken to public extra-judicial assassinations (as opposed to those heretofore done clandestinely), as we saw in Yemen with the drone-launched rocket that destroyed a car and its passengers. We must take the government's word that these were Al Qaida operatives and deserved to die. No need for evidence or a trial. Swift vigilante justice is what's required in these turbulent times.

This same policy, in place for years in Israel, has really worked in stopping terrorism, hasn't it? Israel has also long practiced another strategy that we are mimicking, "administrative detention," a euphemism for holding persons indefinitely without charge. Using assumed war powers and provisions in the Patriot Act, we are now incarcerating untold numbers of citizens and immigrants as "suspected terrorists." Habeas corpus has been suspended and most of these people are denied the benefit of legal counsel. Their relatives are not told where they are being held and are not allowed to communicate with them. We have also imprisoned a large number of foreign nationals in Guantanamo, also without charge or legal counsel. All of this is being done with the largely passive consent of American citizenry in the name of increased security.

There are indications that our nominal guardians of freedom have additional surprises in store for us, including the loss of freedom of speech. In a recent case being prosecuted in Florida, a U.S. citizen-businessman of Palestinian origin has been accused, among other things, of funneling money to terrorist front organizations. During the bail-bond hearing, which the federal prosecutors adamantly opposed, an FBI agent introduced into evidence an article the accused wrote for a London-based Arabic newspaper. They claimed the man "advocated and justified suicide bombings." The content of the commentary is in dispute by translators, but that is a far piece from the real issue. The government, in a Kafkaesque ploy, has successfully shifted the focus from the individual's right of free speech to the subject of his writings. Interestingly, the "free" press failed to note this distinction or even wonder how the government had found this article in the first place. Can a crackdown on dissident writers, such as those on the Internet, be far behind? Is everything we write ensconced in a massive FBI data bank, to be dredged up at our trials?

In many countries, the freedoms that we take for granted have always been under attack and we habitually criticize the rulers of those countries because of it. Many do not allow expressions of dissent and their news media are nothing more than organs for their government's propaganda. We in the U.S. have a mainstream press that is increasingly unvoiced and subservient to our government, behaving just like the media in those nations that our leaders say are "jealous of our freedoms." Many members of the Fourth Estate have been blackmailed into not dissenting because they would be placed on an "enemies" list, and denied access to the higher reaches of government. It seems there is more than one way to prevent or silence dissent.

Over the years, Americans have foolishly assumed their government will protect their endowed civil rights. But, like the proverbial water that is not missed until the well runs dry, so too will these freedoms not be missed until they are squeezed dry and blown away by the winds of increased security. It is a sad and bitter disappointment that the media and the public are not up in arms about these encroachments.

As a test, I have been asking acquaintances what they think about this turn of events. One of the few who even cared to discuss it was a woman who told me that she certainly was disturbed about the loss of civil liberties. Further, she was "mad as hell" that the terrorists have "forced" our government to do these things.

Our history-challenged ministers of disinformation must be proud.

[Raff Ellis lives in the United States and is a retired former strategic planner and computer industry executive. He has had an abiding and active interest in the Middle East since early adulthood and has traveled to the region many times over the last 30 years.]