Recommended follow-up reading -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp
I know most of you heard of it, but, seriously, take a moment and look a bit closer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp
I know most of you heard of it, but, seriously, take a moment and look a bit closer.
In fact, the danger of United States becoming totalitarian is low: creeping authoritarianism, police state tactics, "law and order" used to justify horrid prison conditions and insane sentences, "reasons of state" blackholes (like aforementioned Gitmo), are real dangers. Plurality of the world is governed by either hybrid or authoritarian regimes (which most usually serve to satisfy their rulers' thirst of money and power); North Korea, a few former USSR republics, and perhaps areas of failed states controlled by totalitarian factions are the only unambiguously totalitarian states.
However, by hinting at moral equivalence between United States and North Korea, you end up serving those advocating this creeping authoritarianism: they can now present outlandish arguments that since those opposed to Guantanamo "apologize" for North Korea (note, I am not accusing you of this -- you are not saying North Korea is justified in what they do, but this could easily be spun as such!), advancement of their goals is advancement of North Korea's, Taliban's, etc... goals.
I'm saying this as somebody who feels very strong about torture being an unconditional and absolute moral wrong, sees Guantanamo as representing a very evil and dangerous tendency, and also sees current prison conditions in US as something that -- in the future -- will be seen in the same light as the breaking wheel and the torture rack. Comments like this do not help; just don't do this -- instead, speak up for human rights of all individuals (whether or not their testimony looks like it "serves US agenda" or "helps the terrorists").
[Edit: the big reason I feel strongly about this is that I came from former USSR myself. I remember many Americans, especially those who were unhappy with US behaviour during Cold War would always speak about how US was slighting "my guys", "my country", and being sorry for break up of USSR. They were surprised why I would speak so negatively about "my country" -- as if government and country were equivalent, Cold War was a morally neutral football match, and as if my country wasn't one my family willing adopted and chose to make their home, that is the US.]
You live in a country where the NSA knows every single thing about you, where the government has killed US citizens without a trial and where your government has tortured the children of prisoners.
Anyone who has ever lived in a totalitarian state before knows that the US joined the club a long time ago. We're just waiting for you Americans to realise it.
In a way, saying "we live in a totalitarian state" sounds like defeatism to me: if it's true means there are genuine dangers to speaking out and standing up for individual rights -- which is a legitimate excuse not to do so. It also absolves the voters (and non-voters) of responsibility -- as in totalitarian and authoritarian countries individuals have no say in these policies. So stating US is totalitarian could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Here's how The Economist -- for the most part, a publication with a civil libertarian bend -- saw the United States in 2007 -- the near height of abuses: http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/DEMOCRACY_INDEX_2007_v3.p...
#17 is a far cry American's own self perception, but it is an even further cry from authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Given that, e.g., Vaclav Havel has successfully stood up against true totalitarianism with not much more than a typewriter, I think there's both a chance and a responsibility to turn this trend back.
Starting 16 November 2009, as enabled by the Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene, dozens of detainees began to use habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts to seek freedom from the Guantánamo Bay prison. In some cases, they testified by video from the U.S. naval base in Cuba. Fifteen Federal judges have found the government's evidence against 30 detainees wanting and ordered their release. That number was expected to rise as the judges were scheduled to hear challenges from dozens more prisoners.
How many North Korean prisoners get any kind of hearing?
Guantanamo: "As of August 2013, 164 detainees remain at Guantanamo"
North Korea: "When Shin worked in the garment factory and accidentally dropped a sewing machine, the foreman hacked off his right middle finger just above the first knuckle as punishment"
Certainly, Gitmo is no picnic, but I have to question if you actually RTFA.
In 2004 Spc. Sean Baker, a soldier posing as a prisoner during training exercises at the camp, was beaten so severely that he suffered a brain injury and seizures.
How many deaths are swept under the rug at places like Gitmo or at CIA black sites? If they're beating people to the point of brain injury, I'm guessing it happens.
On more serious note... When could we deploy few hundred thousands microdrones there and assasinate everyone who gives the orders?