CNN Poll: Majority says government a threat to citizens' rights … A majority of Americans think the federal government poses a threat to rights of Americans, according to a new national poll. Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they think the federal government's become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Forty-four percent of those polled disagree. The survey indicates a partisan divide on the question: only 37 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Independents and nearly 7 in 10 Republicans say the federal government poses a threat to the rights of Americans. – CNN

Dominant Social Theme: It is something the powers-that-be need to address.

Free-Market Analysis: There are two areas of pushback an alternative media initiative such as the Daily Bell is apt to encounter. The first is that it is "conspiratorial" and the second is that its paltry insights will fall on deaf ears, as the mass of people are "asleep" or "sheep." How then to explain this American poll – taken by CNN of all outfits – showing that a MAJORITY of Americans believe the federal government "poses a threat to the rights of Americans?" And it's not just the poll. You should read the 300-plus comments beneath the tiny article if you want an earful, dear reader. A few comments:

Start fixing the problem by electing people to the house and senate that will listen to and do the will of WE THE PEOPLE. Then 24 months later elect a president who cares about AMERICA. A really good start would be of course to impeach the moron we currently have to call POTUS. But no one currently in the house or senate has the balls to start that process.

Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. That's exactly what the Government has been doing to our rights since the beginning of this country.

Pfff…typical Fox news propoganda….ummm..wait, this is CNN….

Someone slap me, CNN has finally stopped catering to the far left and oogling over Obama? Nahhhh, couldn't be the ratings, could it? It hurts having less viewers than local public access shows, doesn't it?

And this from CNN. WOW, didn't know they were capable of telling the truth.

Now we are the first to grant that polls are unpredictable and easily skewed. To a degree, they reveal what the pollster wishes them to reveal. But nonetheless this is an eye-opener, right up there with the famous poll of some years ago that found something like 30 percent of all Americans distrust the government's 9/11 narrative. These are large numbers in fact. Fifty-six percent of adult Americans is perhaps 75-100 million individuals. And lets put 30 percent around 50 million. The distrust for America's expanding authoritarianism is large and growing larger.

We are surprised it hasn't spread abroad. We anticipate this anti-government mentality will infect Britain sooner or later – we think we see signs of it. And in Europe, we believe that the coming unraveling of the EU will involve a good bit of anti-authoritarianism as well. But the point we really want to make for our American readers is that the constant flow of feedback we get stating that Americans especially are in an unconscious state regarding their government would not seem to be true, not entirely anyway.

In fact, it is our stated opinion – stated as often as we can state it – that the Internet has made a tremendous difference when it comes to perceptions of individuals and their relationship to the state. America is the prime example thus far in our opinion. It is indeed the great exception, the largest region with a republican culture some 300 years old – actually even older. It is not at all surprising to us that Americans, after all, are "awake" and increasingly aware of what is taking place in America, and in the world. The Tea Party movement is ample evidence for us.

The Bell is in the business of charting the ebb and flow of power elite promotions – those fear-based dominant social themes that panic large populations and encourage authoritarian solutions that bring wealth and power to a few at the expense of the many. We are on record as stating that many of these themes are failing. Global warming is failing. Peak oil seems increasingly dubious to many. Green industry is not something that we think has wide receptivity in America. Endlessly expanding vaccine programs are coming under increasingly attack, and not only in America. Central banking and corporatism are increasingly held in disrepute. The military industrial complex in America – and certainly in Europe – is under attack as never before. Government credibility is down. People's willingness to look to themselves for solutions rather than outside sources is up, in our opinion.

A poll like the above gives credence to our arguments, we believe. For us, it is increasingly obvious. The Internet has educated millions as to their true predicament vis-à-vis the monolithic authoritarianism of the modern Western state. These millions – who once believed their downtrodden plight was entirely their own fault – even now are educating their family, friends and neighbors. You know this is why we have never overly agonized about a Western crackdown on the Internet. It is late in the day for that. The Chinese have one going on, but we wonder even now how long that is going to last. These "enlightenment" movements tend to be unstoppable. The Gutenberg press shows us that.

An idea is far more powerful than a bullet, dear reader. You thought that was just a cliche. But you are living through one of these eras right now. The nascent police states of America and Europe are more apt to be rolled back than gain traction in our opinion. Oh, it will not happen without a struggle (see Edwin Vieira, Jr., recently, Parts 1-4), perhaps a bloody one (though we are staunch believers in non-violence). And we don't expect the outcome to usher in some sort of Nirvana. But we repeat, the power elite will likely end up taking a step back. Free-markets will likely take a step forward. And that's how human progress works, in halting steps.

Some predict a dark ages ahead. Obviously, we are not so sure. The dominant social theme of the all-powerful power elite (its vast and unstoppable Illuminati network, for instance) is at least partially another promotion in our opinion – promoted especially by a number of questionable alternative websites, some of which obviously have intel connections both in America and Britain. No, the free-market foundation certainly has been laid all over again in the past 25 years, and any action taken will only help reinforce the freedom trend. Repressing 600 million people in the West as they begin to wake up and rise, is a formidable task. China certainly has its hands full even now. (And wait until the bubble bursts and central authorities lose still more credibility.) The 20th century was the power elite's golden age. We tend to think it has lapsed.

Out of the night that covers me,

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

I am the captain of my soul.

– William Earnest Henley, 1875