You know such a card will be needed to support planned legislation.
Whatever they call it, it will be a national ID card, and it will be electronic.
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Earlier, the nephew had set up a cage but left the door open. Each time he placed food out to lure the squirrel he placed it closer to the cage, acclimating the squirrel to the cage. Then my nephew put the food in the cage. The squirrel calmly entered the cage and took the food. Then the next time the squirrel went into the cage after the food, my nephew quietly closed the door.
Now the squirrel was trapped. The squirrel had food and there was no other apparent threat, but it immediately realized it had been trapped. The squirrel went crazy. Ignoring the food and water in the cage, it began hurling itself at the door. Then it ran around the cage, banging against other walls as if to test whether they would yield.
The squirrel would not be calmed. Neither food nor water would attract its attention. All it wanted was to get out of that cage.
This squirrel didn’t have the intelligence to recognize a trap before it walked into it, but it sure knew what being trapped meant. Suddenly food and water became unimportant. Its freedom was restricted.
If it had been capable of reasoning, it must have wondered: Would he ever get out? Would he ever be able to go where he pleased? Associate with other squirrels? Maybe raise his young, gather food for himself and not be dependent on the operator of the cage?
Of course a squirrel would not formulate his thoughts in this precise way, but the concepts seemed clear immediately.
Today, thanks to the threat of terrorism, we have accepted a number of new limitations on our freedom in the name of the greater good. We are intelligent enough to anticipate the implications of walking into a trap.
Right now, we are being nudged closer and closer to the trap of being controlled. Over the years the feds have imposed increasing control over us. Control equals power, power equals money, and that’s what politics is about.
These controls have, through a number of clever methods, evaded many constitutional limitations on them. And there’s no better excuse than an ongoing national security emergency such as terrorism. They want that control because it consolidates the direct control of the federal government on each individual person.
It can be used theoretically for controlling the bad guys. But bad guys can get forged documents easily. Honest people will not. So their control will hardly affect the terrorists at all. Remember all of the 9/11 hijackers had their documents in order.
With minor modification, the ID card could be used to track every person in the country. It could be used to restrict you to certain areas. Go where you are not allowed and your card will squeal on you in real time. Owe the government money? If your card finds out, you could be flagged for arrest.
The card would be like having an electronic leash around your neck, the other end held by some faceless bureaucrat in Washington.
How close to the cage are we? When the door snaps shut, what will you do then? When the government has immediate access to all your records in every computer in the world, no matter how confidential you thought they would be, your medical records, your tax returns, your relations, your business associates, your social contacts, everything, then will you start throwing yourself up against the walls?
Each incremental step seems so harmless. But taken together, especially when you see which way they are pointing, they are clear and ominous. The card will be one more link in the chain that will bind you to obedience to your governmental masters.
That squirrel knew it. Do you?
Contact Lionel Waxman at territorial@waxmanmedia.com or visit his website: www.newflashpoint.com.
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