I’ve been wanting to respond to a comment made over the weekend by Damaged Justice to my posting, "The Cincinnati Raw Milk Raid Opens Some Old Wounds".  Damaged Justice stated, "Maybe we don’t have people being rounded up and murdered in concentration camps. In every other respect, we are already there…and those who see the ‘ominous parallels,’ like you, are reluctant to speak the truth and risk having laughing fingers pointed…"

Damaged Justice concludes: "In many ways, the agents of government are trying to control the American people far more than any Nazi ever dreamed."

This individual is saying in stronger terms what many individuals who have commented on the BusinessWeek.com site on my raw-milk-war articles have bemoaned as well–creeping tyranny, and worse.

I’d just like to say in response that I’m not reluctant to speak the truth. At times, such as in reliving my aunt’s abuse through Gary Oaks’ experience, I feel terribly upset by what I see as an undermining of our freedoms by government authorities. But when I step back and look at the big picture, I know there are huge differences between the U.S. and totalitarian regimes like the Nazis.

One big difference is that we can still speak out. In some countries, including China and Iran, the government actually monitors web postings, and restricts access or goes after "offenders." In others, like Russia, newspapers are regularly shut down.

The second big difference is that this country is capable of changing. It wasn’t that long ago that blacks and whites were segregated in half the country, and women were nearly shut out of major professions like law and medicine. The changes only occurred because brave individuals were willing to challenge the existing order.

Yes, our system has been badly corrupted by monied interests. This is a form of corruption that is in certain ways more sinister than what happens in places like Mexico because, as Damaged Justic suggests, it isn’t as obvious. The authorities tend to go after the small business or poor individuals because they can’t so easily fight back, to establish control, and we see this in the raw milk battles. Another example I’m going to be writing more about is the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), which poses huge threats to our privacy and freedom. I have to believe such things are changeable. It’s just going to take a lot of hard work because the monied interests are very determined.