By Brent Johnson

Frequently these days, I am approached by someone complaining to me about the problems with modern society in the United States.  The complaints tend to cover a wide spectrum: the economy is collapsing, the education system is inadequate, there are too many regulations, taxation is out of control, etc.

While each of these statements may be true, I do not believe that any of them represent the cause of their respective complaints.  Rather, they are each a symptom of a more basic problem.

WASHINGTON - June 9, 2011 - Billing it as a way to end the one-size-fits-all approach to airport security, the International Air Transport Association on Tuesday unveiled a mock-up of what it called the "Checkpoint of the Future."

Instead of a single screening procedure applied to all fliers, the group envisions that passengers would be divided into risk categories based on information available about them. They would then be directed to one of three lanes: "Known Traveler," "Normal" and "Enhanced Security."

In ancient Rome, the government (i.e. Caesar) gave the general population free bread and circuses, in the form of “games” held at the Coliseum.  These “games” were one-sided affairs that pit fully armed and armored Roman champions against unarmed gladiator slaves.  Frequently, they would add live tigers to the bout, making it that much more certain that the slaves would be killed.

GENEVA, Switzerland - March 15, 2011 - In a long shot theory, physicists propose that the world's largest atom smasher could be used as a time machine to send a special kind of matter backward in time.

The scientists outline a way to use the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 17-mile long particle accelerator buried underground near Geneva, to send a hypothetical particle called the Higgs singlet to the past.

SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - March 16, 2011 - A former United States Geological Survey scientist says a major quake on the west coast is imminent.

Jim Berkland predicts earthquakes…accurately.

Never heard of him? Perhaps you should - especially if you live on or near the west coast of the United States, or know someone that does.

All tyrannies, regardless of their origins, use fear to maintain their power bases.

The worst tyrannical powers have used fear to maintain order and insure that the people comply with their demands: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and  Mao are just a few examples. Fear has also been used by “benevolent” groups such as religious organizations to maintain control, but I will save that discussion for another time.

Dear Peace Officer:

I don't want to kill you. I don't even want to wound you. I admire your courage and the commitment you've made to help others, often at the risk of your own life. I hope you won't come for me, because if you do, one of us will die. It may be you. I've done nothing wrong. I don't intend to.

But the government that you serve has passed too many laws. I am sure to accidentally break one, some day. That same government is systematically destroying the unalienable rights which our Constitution says may not be infringed - very specifically, my right to keep and bear arms.

BOSTON, Massachusetts - January 31, 2011 - Future technology may put the brakes on drunk drivers and save many lives as researchers in Massachusetts are developing a system that will prevent a car from starting if the driver's blood alcohol level is higher than the legal limit.

The new technology, known as the Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, would use sensors that would measure blood alcohol content of the driver in two possible ways, by analyzing a driver's breath or through the skin, using sophisticated touch-based sensors situated in places like steering wheels and door locks.

CAIRO, Egypt - January 30, 2011 - According to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, the United States government had been planning to topple the Egyptian president for the past three years.

The files show Washington had secretly been backing leading figures behind the uprising, which has seen more than one hundred people killed and over 2,000 injured since it began on Tuesday.

January 26, 2011 - Police departments around the country are warming up to unmanned spy planes. But don’t expect the Department of Homeland Security to catch drone fever anytime soon. It’s too controversial for an agency already getting hammered for naked scanners and junk touching.