Censorship and the Drift Backward Toward a Return to Theocracy

Did you ever read an unabridged edition of Don Quixote?  In the mid-pages we read a lengthy report by "his official censor," explaining why he let this novel pass muster. They did not call them editors or moderators back in those days.  It was the age of the Inquisition and the Church had to approve all published material, even fictional novels, to prevent anti-Government propaganda.  Some say Don Quixote is actually the first novel.  They say that truth is stranger than fiction, but the novel is a vehicle that can get through the political censorship storm with subtle truth that is obvious to the discerning eye. The discerning eye is one that can "read between the lines."

The theocratic Holy Roman Empire  ruled Europe from the end of the Roman Empire in the late 15th century until the French Revolution. Bush 43 gave a return to theocracy a big boost by allowing so-called "faith-based" schools to receive Government aid,  just like public schools.

Historically then, writers have always sought to find ways to get around censorship.  Before Quixote, they did it in more strained ways.  Shakespeare protected his neck by telling tales of kings and nobles that lived two hundred years earlier.  Some say that certain Mother Goose Rhymes were thinly disguised satire of the nobility in England. Aesops' Fables told stories of folly meant to reflect evil and power abuse back in the BCE.  Jesus did it with "parables."

 After a final stormy year of Government service in the old INS branch of the DHS, I decided to retire.  Upon being notified of my intention to retire, my supervisory office in Nogales, AZ,    immediately mailed me the old "non disclosure" Form 189, warning me that if I published anything derived from my government knowledge and experiences, I could have all the royalties diverted to the Government.  There were also not-so-subtle hints of punishment for divulging classified information.  My bosses in Arizona knew that I had obtained a degree in creative writing while studying part-time as a Border Patrol Agent in El Paso.  I planned to write mostly fiction, but that would not have allayed the concerns of my bosses in Nogales, AZ, some fifty miles from my duty station in Sasabe.  I knew that if I had refused to sign the non-disclosure form, they could have denied my application to retire.  So try and stop me, I said inwardly, by signing the non-disclosure form.  I then stuck a smiley face on it with a winking eye.   I still have a copy of the form and the stick-note with the smiley face and winking eye. 

They say that fact is stranger than fiction, but fiction has historically made a darn good vehicle to convey truth for discerning readers.  "Discerning," in this sense, to quote another old cliche, means an ability to read between the lines. 

I think I did some good as a troublemaker who had read the law and tried to enforce it, contrary to the agency as a whole , which has been grossly guilty of dereliction of duty, almost since its inception in 1924. I did my best to highlight this miserable policy that allowed our land to become flooded with illegal aliens--by sometimes demanding a passport as proof of U.S. citizenship--required by law.  I frequently violated policy by applying the law as written at the sacrifice of any hopes of advancing in the bureaucracy, of which I had had none since my earliest years in the agency. I defied illegal policy often at the risk of getting phony criminal charges trumped on me, which I once did, but finally, with great sacrifice, I finally everything dismissed. 

One change that I feel that I was instrumental in was in forcing the Government to require a passport for all applicants for admission to the U.S. at land ports of entry.  That law had been ignored for decades on the Mexican, and other, land borders. It is found in 8 CFR 235.1, and other parts of Federal Law. The disaster of 9-11-01 came seven years after I retired, but I had always known it was coming, but I expected it actually to be much worse. Bush 43's open border policies to coincide with the NAFTA agreement made such a catastrophe inevitable.  And we still have not secured out borders enough to keep out terrorists. Trump is at loggerheads with the Democrats who see illegal immigration as a way to increase their political strength, since most third world immigrants become Democrats if they legalize.