"War is Peace" - G. Orwell, '1984'

When is a paranoid fantasy (connecting the dots) just a description of reality? For instance, what if you lived in a country that happened to be the greatest military machine on the face of the planet? What if a small, deeply-entrenched oligarchy (democratically elected? Hmmm, which well-financed, corporately-endorsed millionaire will I vote for today?) that controlled all the levers of government, decided to use a terrorist attack as a pretext, to feed a new perpetual war, one that can never be won, one that will never end?

What if this military state punished the poor with regressive policies aimed at keeping them poor? What if all tax (abolish the estate tax!) and social policies rewarded those at the top of the pyramid and were engineered to keep the rich, rich? What if foreign policy was based on strategies to plunder the wealth and resources of smaller countries unable to defend themselves against an agressive, pre-emptive military doctrine? What if abortion was made illegal to assure that poor women would produce offspring that could feed the military ranks? What if all social/econonmic policies were made to assure that young men and women were poorly educated, and had few choices for advancement in this entrenched society (Join the few, the proud, THE MARINES!)?

What if one of the key benefits of a perpetual war, was a drug-addled, tv-addicted, completely docile and fearful populace that gladly gave up all civil liberties and freedoms that they had inherited from a much different political heritage? What if all production/manufacturing (except for military technology) was sent overseas? What if the treasure of a country (economic, social, political) was deeply and inextricably invested in the success and perpetuation of the military monster? What if all of this was done out in public? What if none of this was really a surprise? Let's say for one minute that all of this were true? My questions: what could we do, how could we stop it, where would we go, would any of us even care?