It seems that we are in some scary times now, but the worst may be yet to come.
In May of this year, there are very serious talks of a National ID card being issued. This card may replace a drivers license, may be required to board an airplane, enter a Federal building, etc.. Further down the road it could be required to get a job, buy food and other such every day activities.
Not far behind in the creepy factor are radio-frequency ID chips. These are being used in some big retailers nowadays on items. It could be used, combined with the National ID card or a human ID chip, to see everything that someone buys. Some of these RFIs can be as small as a grain of sand, and could someday be found in every item bought it America. Thus, the government could have a list of what you own in your house, and potentially the layout of your house.
On a different note: The Federal Reserve. Which is not part of the government at all. It is a privately owned bank that issue money to the government. And where does this money come from? Thin air, of course. Which is why the American dollar is slowly becoming more and more worthless. Back in the early days, paper money could be traded in for the listed amount of gold backing the bills. So, a twenty-dollar bil would get you twenty-dollars worth of gold. There are even speculations that all the gold in Fort Knox is no longer there.
Talking about money....There is no law requiring American citizens to pay income tax. By filling out the paper work and such, you are volunteering to pay the government for working. The IRS has the power to take all of your belonings and freeze your accounts if they feel the need to. And there is nothing you can do to stop them. People have won in the past by going to courts and stating that there is no actual law requiring them to pay taxes. Some of them even got up to the Supreme Court level which deemed that there is constitutional basis for the taxes. Yet people who have tried in recent years get shut-out, and many courts will not even acknowlede that Supreme Court decision. As a result, some people have lsot everything or sent to prison for thirty years. All for commiting a non-crime.
Personally, I wil refuse the National ID card when it is issued. The full power of it will not be in effect for a few years, so I will still atleast be able to drive. I would not pay income taxes if I was not scared senseless of being losing everything and being thrown in jail. If ten years ago you asked me if all of the fiction that Orwell wrote would come true, I would say that there would not be a snowball's chance in hell. But now..I am not all that sure.
People seem to care more about fleeting things like the economy.
I do not dispute that civil liberties are important, but in times of economic crisis the govt (us + gbr) would be foolish to introduce such a costly plan.
The National ID is a bad idea, as is microchiping. Privacy needs to be protected. Sometimes it's better to take the risk that something bad might happen then to increase security. America was founded on the idea of freedom, not being one hundred percent safe. But, people are scared easily, so we go down this Orwellian road. Now it's security cameras and gun control, next it's microchips and every move is monitered. Personally, I'd rather have terrorists than big brother.
The problem about this all is quite simple. Usually, if you ask people what they value more, freedom or safety, they will go with freedom.
The problem with this all is this, however: the safety part is usually clear, and because it will be used by officials a lot - on top of everyone's mind. The freedom part, or loss of it, will not be mentioned that much. You have to think a lot harder about the whole issue to come up with this part, and most people are just lazy, accepting what they are given. So they forget the second part, which makes them think there is not much else - making it an easy choice: ofcourse we will, we'd like safety.
I myself am not against wiretapping, only because I have nothing to hide, and if they are using it for good reasons. But microchipping and tracing my every move is too far. They don't control us, we are free. John Locke, I believe, had the idea of the social contract. You sacrifice some of your rights in exchange for safety. This should only be pushed to a certain extent, as pushing it too far would take away too many rights. Such as 1984, with Big Brother and the Thought Police. Everyone sacrificed way too many rights for "safety."
I myself am not against wiretapping, only because I have nothing to hide, and if they are using it for good reasons.
Hve you not seen the film 'the lives of others' about the secret police listening to everything a couple does. That would be a horrible world where you would have to watch what you said as that is denying your basic human rights of freedom of speech. In my opinion if the government cannot protect its own citizens except by removing their civil rights for 'security' then that government has failed in its duty to do so.
