This year’s National Defense Authorization Act contains provisions that build upon the infamous indefinite detention clauses of 2012, giving Big Brother even more illicit power.

Section 1071 of the 2014 NDAA gives the feds expanded power to seize your personal information, authority that goes beyond even beyond the broad powers the Patriot Act and Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) allow.

Buried within hundreds of pages of text in the vast military appropriations bill you will find the creation of a “Conflict Records Research Center,” responsible for a “digital research database including translations and to facilitate research and analysis of records captured from countries, organizations, and individuals, now or once hostile to the United States.”

This information is going to be captured, and then shared between the NSA and other federal agencies. The ambiguous term ‘hostile to the United States’ could conceivably be stretched to include pretty much anyone critical of Washington D.C. policy. This is a very threatening, ominous measure, especially when put into the proper context.

These NDAAs do not expire after one year. Once codified into law, it stays on the books until Congress explicitly repeals it. This means that the indefinite detention provisions of the 2012 NDAA will now be combined with the new information-gathering powers of the 2014 NDAA. This combination could spell trouble for reformers, activists, dissidents and others speaking out against systemic abuses of power by regimes past and present.

This means we must act now, and act where we can have the most success.

Efforts pushing federal reforms tend to end up wasting time, energy and resources. Oftentimes, well-intentioned measure such as the USA Freedom Act end up being counter-productive. Even in the unlikelihood it passes without damaging amendments, it relies on the federal government to keep itself in check – kind of a fox guarding the hen-house scenario. The hens generally fair poorly.

It also gives the public a false sense of security. These measures can make people think the problem has gone away when it really has not.

Federal reforms can often be red herrings that either do nothing or actually give the feds more power. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act and Rep. Mike Rogers’ FISA Transparency and Modernization Act are two recent examples of this phenomenon. The feds desperately want to pass a feckless, phony ‘reform plan’ to quell people’s concerns and continue business as usual.

Focusing exclusively on federal reforms runs into another roadblock – the feds have no respect for the law. They have already made a mockery the Bill of Rights. Why wouldn’t they just disregard whatever commands they receive from the legislature similar to the way they always disregard the Constitution? Especially when these agencies can shroud themselves in secrecy. Self-enforcing mechanisms do not work with a lawless federal government. It’s hand must be forced.

We can force the feds’ hand through state and local action. Much of what they are trying to do relies on government officials at the state and local levels to aid and assist them. Spying on every man, woman, and child in America (and throughout the world) is a gargantuan task. That is why the feds have quietly set up information sharing agreements, university-infiltration programs and other dealings to ensure much needed compliance at the lower levels.

It would be much more difficult for the feds to profile people and store their information in their databases without help at the state level. It would be virtually impossible without the water needed to cool their vast computer systems, which typically comes from deals with local municipalities. With these facts at our disposal, why waste time begging the feds for relief? Instead, let’s ignore them completely and thwart them in our cities, counties and states!

The feds will always be up to no good, pushing their agenda covertly through legalese and other tricky means. We can regain our power by refusing to play their game. By circumventing them entirely, we can pull the rug out from under them and eventually cripple their entire sinister operation. When that happens, it will not matter how many NDAA’s are passed because they will be hamstrung regardless.

Right now, the feds are scrambling to enact their totalitarian state amidst record-low public support and mounting push back. This means that the time to get into the fight is right now! There is still time to stop them, but it is running out. The feds inch toward their dream of a 1984-style dictatorship with every passing day. Take the OffNow plan, and spearhead a movement against Big Brother off the ground in your community before it is too late!

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