Today marks the end of one year of No Force, No Fraud. One year, and it has been one of the crappiest, sleaziest years for our nation. By the time No Force began, I was already tired of writing about the War in Iraq, which Bush had already declared "won". I decided then that since so many others were writing about that war that I would instead avoid the subject. A year ago, there were already about 5,000 Iraqi civilians dead. Since the war "ended", that number has almost doubled, and the American death toll has reached 800... and few believe the end is even in sight.

During the past year, we've given up finding any legitimate reason for invading Iraq, especially since we've demonstrated that we're even worse at running the nation than Saddam was. No weapons of mass destruction, no nuclear capability, no connection to Osama... no excuse whatsoever.

During the past year, we've discovered just how truly pathetic our massive government was at defending us against the 9/11 attack... one of the few truly legitimate tasks government should be performing.

During the past year, we've almost forgotten about Osama bin Laden. The War in Afghanistan, begun to ferret out bin Laden, is going every bit as well as the one in Iraq.

During the past year, we've waited patiently for the recession to end. It seems like it may have eased for some, but certainly not for all.

During the past year, we've watched as our national reputation went to hell around the globe. Not only are we now viewed as war-mongers but as a nation willing to use torture, abuse, and civilian devastation as means to achieve ends that don't even make any sense. Long ago, we were viewed as "Ugly Americans" for flaunting our wealth when visiting poorer nations. Now, the word "Ugly" doesn't begin to describe the world view of America. SHAME now hangs around our necks like a dead albatross. SHAME serious enough that our Olympic athletes are being urged not to wave the U.S. flag during their medal celebrations, for fear of arousing crowd hostility.

Domestically, normal government insanity continues unabated:

I wish I could tell you that the Patriot Act had been repealed, but it continues to weave its liberty-crimping web throughout our society, making all of us into suspects, and eliminating the last shreds of our privacy.

I wish I could tell you that the War on Drugs had eased, but the feds continue to attack even though the 9th state, Vermont, has just legitimized medical marijuana.

I wish I could tell you that domestic spending has decreased under a Republican administration, but it just ain't so. The 2005 budget is $2.4 TRILLION, and we know damned well they won't be limited by the budget. Recently, the General Accounting Office, which does it's best to audit government agencies, documented that last year, the federal government made $35 BILLION in overpayments, duplicate payments, and payments to dead people.

I really do wish I could relate some good news. I'm an optimist, but that position becomes more difficult to maintain each year. Recent survey results show that I'm not alone... that an increasing number of Americans are specifically angry and/or worried about our Iraq escapades.

Is our nation in a hopeless decline? I could easily make a case that it is... that if we continue in the same manner our economy, all that holds us together, will also crumble. That economy is strong, but brittle... meaning that its elasticity is poor. Americans are skilled at finding ways to work around problems, but thanks to high taxes and excessive regulation, work-arounds have been shrinking for a long time. An ever-increasing number of businesses and individuals have been forced to become dependent on government... and that's a damned shaky support.

My biggest fear for our future is that even if the American people are paying attention, and realize that drastic changes are needed, that they will continue to fall for the lesser of two evils scam, blame the Republicans, and shift their support back to the Democrats in order to rid themselves of a disastrous President. Out of the frying pan into the fire. The root problem is a government with far too much power, and Democrats are at least as dangerous as Republicans when it comes to increasing the stranglehold of government's noose around our necks. Kerry's only positive is that he isn't Bush.

We need to find a way to send a message to the two parties that have, in collusion, sold our nation down the river. We need to find a way to take back our government... OUR government. Remember, they are our public servants. This is a nation of the PEOPLE, not of two contemptibly corrupt political parties.

No Force, No Fraud has had more than 75,000 readers over the past year. I can only hope that a few have become convinced that we are a great people saddled with a bloated, corrupt, propagandizing government that is completely unworthy of representing us. That same government, through the anti-competitive machinations of the Democrat and Republican political parties, has made it extremely difficult to effect change through elections. Thanks to thousands of determined individual efforts, there will again be a Libertarian candidate on your ballot in November. That candidate will be the only one with an incentive to reign in our out-of-control government and return control to the people. Libertarians can work like hell, at their own expense, to give you the choice, but only you can choose to make it happen. The alternative, as always, is to continue to let the situation get still worse... until our once-great nation falls apart under the weight of slick, power-mad politicians.