I have.

 They are nasty little buggers with a cruel sense of timing as they seem to normally strike at my most vulnerable moments, while lying in bed at night, waiting for the blissful escape of sleep to come claim me. But these aren't the sit-up-screaming-in-a-cold-sweat sort of terrifying quasi-nocturnal occurrences. No, what I experience is even worse: it begins as a small, niggling quandary that begins to tickle, uncomfortably, at the back of my mind. That scratch builds, slowly assuring another round of tossing and turning, until I finally flip over and turn on the bedside lamp.

 Did I leave the gas on, or forget to let the dog in, I think to myself, do I hear a noise outside or did I forget to lock the door? No, I then realize, none of the above. So what is it?

 Then the revelation strikes me, slamming me like a fist full of lead: the past four years have not been a terrible dream after all, and thanks to half of my fellow Americans, who let themselves fall victim to the age-old tactic of  "control them through their fear."  the sequel has been written. The monster in the closet is real and he'll be haunting us for another four years.

 I have to be honest: it isn't solely the Bush Administration's macho, steroid-enhanced approach to the world that gets me stacking my soap box, nor is it guilt to the fact that I have yet to shell out my buck-ninety-nine for one of those all-the-rage yellow magnetic ribbons to stick on the back of my Trooper to nosh my patriotic ego - or lack there of. It isn't even seeing $40 million go down the drain, spent on a party, when it could be put to real use, for, lets say, education, healthcare or housing for our country's most destitute or a down payment on our deficit. (If I am going to pay a quarter-mil to see Cheney, he better do things for me that warrant a cigarette afterwards.)

 The one thing that has really been getting my pulse racing and seeing red, are the signs on public billboards that read: "PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS, FIGHTING FOR PEACE AND TO DEFEND OUR FREEDOM".

 Okay, forget the religious connotations of the word pray on public property –– I'm not going to waste my energy on something so petty, and I'm not even going to point out that fighting for peace is like shagging for virginity. My beef is that people out there honestly believe that a fight on foreign land is defending our freedom.

"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended." –– George W. Bush

 Let's walk through this together, shall we? Clause number fifteen to the Constitution of the United States of America reads: "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions."  Merriam-Webster's definition of the word "invasion" reads: "The act of invading, especially the entrance of an armed force into a territory to conquer."  So, somebody please enlighten me; how can action in a foreign country threaten our freedom here in the US?  Better yet, how can one justify a fight across the globe as one to defend our freedom? Only with an invasion of American soil, ON AMERICAN SOIL, with our federal government being overtaken, overthrown and dismantled, could America's
freedom be in danger of being destroyed by outsiders.

 I ask you: does the American public honestly think that this war in Iraq is protecting our freedoms, and if so, how and from whom? Have the American people given into the system so far, that they really think that a train-full of Al-Qaeda terrorists are going to ride in at any moment and take over, crippling our society and overthrowing our government? No? So who then, is jeopardizing our freedom?

 But ah-ha! Yes, that is a trick question.

 There is no covert invasion planned, no army of bomb-wielding terrorists massing on the horizon, waiting to attack at dawn. No, those who threaten our very way of life, our freedoms protected under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have already arrived. This well-organized militia isn't armed with weapons of death and destruction, but with the simple power to strip any American citizen that they see fit - anyone who opposes the regime's sense of morals and values - of their civil liberties and erode key freedoms from all Americans.

 I'm not going to beat a dead horse here; we all know that we are no longer safe from unsolicited surveillance or non-warranted searches of private property. But the fact that surveillance orders can be based simply on our First Amendment activities, like checking out certain materials from your local library or visiting anti-government web sites sends a definite shiver up my spine. Simply perusing Redress Press can send up a red flag. (I hope my voice causes my own Homeland Security red flag, and shall it wave boldly!) The next time you gather in protest, you may be labeled a "domestic terrorist," and how long until some over-zealous judge uses that loophole to prosecute participants in the next gay-pride parade, pagan gathering or hemp-fest simply because participants are not of the regime?

 How do we fight this war by our own government? How do we fight the masses of orange alerts and wrath-of-God paranoia?

 We fight diligently and peacefully by gathering, organizing, voting on a local level, standing up and saying "not me and not in my name!" Maybe it's the Sioux blood in my veins, maybe I channel William Wallace, but I would rather die free then to succumb to Bush's faction. Bush and his cohorts are in for a second round and they have nothing to lose by steam-rolling whatever they wish into fruition. Abortion rights, the environment and religious freedoms are only a sampling of what is on the line right now. We, the blue voters, may have lost the battle, but the war is just beginning.

 I believe there is a way to keep our nation safe and free. We must retrain our government, and indeed ourselves, to be diligent without being paranoid; to be tolerant without fear. To do this, I refer back to my earlier comment on voting on a local level. You cannot build a home beginning with the roof; you must start with a solid foundation. (See my previous column, A Lesson In Universal Love.) Again, we will change the world; it is our kismet.

 Go forth and fight the good fight my friends.