We will only attempt to identify the arguments used for the latest, and more visible form of repression in North America today: the health crusades.

Two important key elements are at the basis of repression: insecurity and violence. A third important element is cause.

In the last ten years, many fundamental factors have changed the balance of power and economy at planetary level. The post-war opposition of the two superpowers is no longer, as the cold war is over. This causes the world economy to undergo dramatic rearrangements, as the war machine has to be redesigned, thus creating the economic upheavals we are experiencing today.

Notwithstanding the terrible danger that the cold war represented, with the two superpowers constantly having their finger on the button of planetary destruction, in the historically immature North America there were nevertheless positive effects, contributing to a certain amount of social stability.

Foremost, the enemy was in sight. The commies were precisely located both geographically and ideologically, and they were outside the country. The U.S.S.R. was the incarnation of the bad guy. This was an important reference, and it polarized insecurity, violence, and cause.

That reference motivated us to be better and more productive than the bad guys: creativity, high standards of living (contributed in part by the industrial productions of the bellum machina), and a liberal, positive view of the future were attributed mainly to the liberty that we had and they didn't. This brought humanity to the Moon.

Both politicians and people could polarize their contempt and fears towards the Soviet Union, while providing themselves with a safety relief valve for the religious-based sense of guilt that is so much the fabric of the protestant anglo-germanic culture and mental structure.

As the cold war was over, a great vacuum was left. No more bad guys. No more hate polarization. Of course, the Gheddafis' and the Husseins' were still there, but certainly they were no match for the mighty West, and they were swept away quickly, without enough time to make a permanent mark.

With the bad guys gone, another focus had to be found for the emotional and ideological wars. Something had to be done to fulfil the primordial instinct of the hunt, and that need to externalize the puritanical guilt and contempt that is in most of us, but we refuse to see and face as individuals.

Like every society on the verge of obscurantism, North America choose to look for the enemy within. This enemy satisfies all the basic mass-sociopathic needs. It can be the focus of contempt. We can group, and use violence against it. There is plenty of it, for it is in each one of us. It is a moving target, thus making the hunt harder, and more fulfilling.

Let us cleanse our society from all those faults that make it imperfect, let the punishment purge us from the indulgence of the past!

Of course this appetizing recipe is missing one crucial element: cause. One cannot just go out and beat people! This would go contrary to the sense of social justice each one of us is convinced to possess in abundance.

What can be better than the issue of cleaning the environment, getting healthier, and living safer? It can be easily explained, therefore it is accessible to anyone -- no matter how dim.

It is inexpensive, or so it appears. It is powerful, for it puts the "perpetrator" in an indefensible position: how can you possibly argue with someone who just wants his and your health to be good, and your life to be long? Politicians love it, for it has the unique combination of being easy to pursue, and diverting the popular attention from such sticky issues as failing economy and bad government, while still getting votes.

It even creates employment, for massive clean-up and reorganization is to be performed, a bureaucracy is to be developed to manage such a monster, and the accused must be proven guilty with multimillion-dollar studies, since we can't afford to forget that we are a fair society!

Finally, guilty people can be found everywhere: we can target people who drink, smoke, don't wear safety belts, have too much coffee, eat too much, work too much, do drugs, propose to women, and -- how could we forget? -- have promiscuous sex.

My God, so much guilt around, it's overwhelming! So much danger, so much to protect (especially the children), so much to do! Let us create a militant organization -- the tougher the better, we don't fool around with this kind of stuff -- why don't we call it F.A.R.T. (Finally Aware of the Risks Taken)?

There is only one stumbling block on the path of this nobilitating process: freedom. Some obsolete theoretician fools who were not yet enlightened by statisticians, once wrote about personal liberties, and the right to do with one's body what one wishes. Damn, some of them even made it to the Constitution, and that stuck through time! How do I get rid of such an obstacle? I know, I will use it for my crusade!

• I will say that you don't have the right to pollute my air because you are limiting my liberty, never mind that the air belongs to both of us.
  
• I will say that you don't have the right to do it to yourself, since you are costing me money, never mind that you pay more tax than I do.
  
• I will say that you are killing me, and I will prove it with the latest & greatest multimillion-dollar study (which is paid with your tobacco tax), never mind that the safety standards have been altered just enough to fit the purpose! To complete and for effect, why don't we get ahold of that old rock star, to recite the mea culpa on television under the advice of his PR agent, worried about his fading notoriety?

With personal liberties out of the way, the issue then becomes one of enforcement and control, for which the state happens to have available just the right technology. Electronic devices such as cameras and microphones are perfect for the job. Why do you get upset if we monitor you? If you don't have anything to hide, why do you worry? In these times, monitoring is necessary for your protection, and you'll get used to it, anyway. Besides, it's the law. We care for you, for your children, for ourselves. We just have to get those disgusting polluters under control, they are a menace endangering us all!

So what if we step on a few rights? Individual rights have to surrender to the interest of the collective! And if a law is in the way, we'll either change it, or go around it!

When the Canadian Supreme Court struck down the proposal to make commercial promotion of tobacco illegal, the anti-smokers worked frantically to go around the issue in as many ways as possible. This demonstrates that the drive to suppress the liberty to smoke, or to advertise what they don't like does not stop even before the highest legal authority of the country. The health-nazis advocate the law only when it can be used for their goals of repression.

This being the frightening reality, someone may argue that a dialogue to find an understanding of coexistence is impossible. They will not listen, for they are convinced to have the truth in their pocket, and the persecution must continue to the bitter end.

Sadly we agree, and the only logical conclusion is that in order to fight force, we must use greater force, or be destroyed.

Unfortunately, past history may prove us wrong.