Who Will Watch the Watchers?
Will Malven
June 24, 2008
In the science fiction thriller, Minority Report, citizens are under constant scrutiny by retinal scanners. They are used by advertisers to directly target individuals with products for their use and they are used by the government to monitor the location of every citizen. The aim is to reduce the likelihood of crime and to track known criminals.
Science fiction or science fact? In Britain today (and London in particular) citizens are being monitored, not by retinal scanners, but by thousands of remote controlled cameras.
The purpose of these cameras, as were the retinal scanners in Minority Report, is to reduce crime and to enable police to monitor criminal activity. The people who elected the councils who approved the use of these cameras are now questioning the wisdom of their decisions.
They are rapidly discovering a universal truth about ceding power to the state.
It is easier to withhold power from the state than it is to strip it away once it has been granted.
Originally approved under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to assist in the government’s battle against terrorism, the ease of access and the temptations associated with such a sweeping power has resulted in a trivializing of their use.
Those cameras are now being used not to stop serious crime alone, but to pursue any and all transgressors including people who fail to clean up “dog fouling,” when taking their pets “walkies.”
The citizens are now learning the lesson Benjamin Franklin attempted to teach when he admonished his fellow citizens that:
Face it human beings are a lazy lot, for the most part, and our natural tendency is to turn to others to do that for us which we should do for ourselves.
We are also (for the most part) creatures who crave safety and security. A great many of us have a natural tendency to seek those two imposters at any price. Some of us know that there is no such thing as absolute safety or security and that, whatever form they take, they must be provided for by the individual.
It is this natural desire for safety which in part gives Leftists so much sway in our society. They see this innate weakness in the populace and they exploit it by amplifying our fears and then proffering the absurd notion that we can be safe if we just allow the government to protect us.
They offer a false sense of security and they offer it at the high price of our freedom.
Echoing Benjamin Franklin’s warning, Ronald Reagan told America in October of 1964 in his speech “A Time for Choosing” [also known as “The Speech”]:
Their efforts come in the form of a large expansion of governmental powers to invade our privacy and investigate those they deem “suspicious.” The Patriot Act as it is called ceded a tremendous amount of leeway in how law enforcement agencies conduct their investigations and I have for the past several years supported its existence with the caveat that such revisions in our constitutional rights, though they have historical precedence, must always be limited in their duration.
In the past, our government has relinquished those “war powers” once the threat is diminished, but we must remain ever vigilant that such power never becomes so entrenched that it is automatically assumed by the government. With such power comes the tremendous potential for abuse, as our friends in Britain are now witnessing with the ever present cameras they initially allowed for “security purposes.”
So now we must remain ever vigilant as this “War On Terror” drags on. We must never allow our government, whether it is held by those on the Right, the muddled Middle, or the Left, to become so accustomed to those powers that they fail to give them up.
With a socialist running as the Democrat Party candidate for President, and a very Liberal Democrat majority in Congress, we are now nearing a time of decision about the level of freedom we wish to enjoy.
Are you one of those who is willing to “give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety.” Your answer to that question and the answer of all Americans will decide what kind of society we will live in.
The citizens of Socialist nations very rarely [if ever] enjoy the individual freedom, prosperity and power that we currently enjoy as Americans.
As was asked in the movie, “The Matrix,” the question you must answer is,
June 24, 2008
In the science fiction thriller, Minority Report, citizens are under constant scrutiny by retinal scanners. They are used by advertisers to directly target individuals with products for their use and they are used by the government to monitor the location of every citizen. The aim is to reduce the likelihood of crime and to track known criminals.
Science fiction or science fact? In Britain today (and London in particular) citizens are being monitored, not by retinal scanners, but by thousands of remote controlled cameras.
The purpose of these cameras, as were the retinal scanners in Minority Report, is to reduce crime and to enable police to monitor criminal activity. The people who elected the councils who approved the use of these cameras are now questioning the wisdom of their decisions.
They are rapidly discovering a universal truth about ceding power to the state.
It is easier to withhold power from the state than it is to strip it away once it has been granted.
Originally approved under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to assist in the government’s battle against terrorism, the ease of access and the temptations associated with such a sweeping power has resulted in a trivializing of their use.
Those cameras are now being used not to stop serious crime alone, but to pursue any and all transgressors including people who fail to clean up “dog fouling,” when taking their pets “walkies.”
The citizens are now learning the lesson Benjamin Franklin attempted to teach when he admonished his fellow citizens that:
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”Franklin’s admonishment was not simply a capricious thought, but was a result of his astute observations of humanity and our natural tendencies.
Face it human beings are a lazy lot, for the most part, and our natural tendency is to turn to others to do that for us which we should do for ourselves.
We are also (for the most part) creatures who crave safety and security. A great many of us have a natural tendency to seek those two imposters at any price. Some of us know that there is no such thing as absolute safety or security and that, whatever form they take, they must be provided for by the individual.
It is this natural desire for safety which in part gives Leftists so much sway in our society. They see this innate weakness in the populace and they exploit it by amplifying our fears and then proffering the absurd notion that we can be safe if we just allow the government to protect us.
They offer a false sense of security and they offer it at the high price of our freedom.
- Want to feel safe from murder, surrender your right to keep and bear arms.
- Want to feel safe from the costs of medical care, surrender your right to private healthcare.
- Want to feel free from being offended, surrender your right to the free expression of ideals.
- Want to feel safe in your job, surrender your right to work when and where you choose.
- Want to feel safe from the high cost of gasoline, surrender your right to choose what kind of vehicle you drive.
The list is almost endless and the price you pay for each service you accept from your government is another portion of your individual freedom.
In her speech, “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Janice Rogers Brown, a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and a Bush (43) appointee said the following before The Federalist Society at the University of Chicago in April of 2000 It remains one of the best descriptions of the dangers of an increasing presence of government in our lives:
“Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible.”No truer words have ever been spoken and the above stands as a description of our society and the direction in which it continues to move. Most interesting is the fact that this one truthful, candid observation so offended the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee that it came close to derailing her appointment to the Circuit Court. This fact alone should tell you the dangers we face in the upcoming election should a like minded Democrat occupy the White House.
Echoing Benjamin Franklin’s warning, Ronald Reagan told America in October of 1964 in his speech “A Time for Choosing” [also known as “The Speech”]:
“You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.”He also warned about the persistence of government bureaucracy when he said:
“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this Earth.”…and finally, Reagan said of government:
“the Founding Fathers…knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy.”Though this threat tends to come primarily from the Left, there are those within the Republican Party and on the Right who also seek to usurp our rights in the name of “Homeland Security.”
Their efforts come in the form of a large expansion of governmental powers to invade our privacy and investigate those they deem “suspicious.” The Patriot Act as it is called ceded a tremendous amount of leeway in how law enforcement agencies conduct their investigations and I have for the past several years supported its existence with the caveat that such revisions in our constitutional rights, though they have historical precedence, must always be limited in their duration.
In the past, our government has relinquished those “war powers” once the threat is diminished, but we must remain ever vigilant that such power never becomes so entrenched that it is automatically assumed by the government. With such power comes the tremendous potential for abuse, as our friends in Britain are now witnessing with the ever present cameras they initially allowed for “security purposes.”
So now we must remain ever vigilant as this “War On Terror” drags on. We must never allow our government, whether it is held by those on the Right, the muddled Middle, or the Left, to become so accustomed to those powers that they fail to give them up.
With a socialist running as the Democrat Party candidate for President, and a very Liberal Democrat majority in Congress, we are now nearing a time of decision about the level of freedom we wish to enjoy.
Are you one of those who is willing to “give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety.” Your answer to that question and the answer of all Americans will decide what kind of society we will live in.
The citizens of Socialist nations very rarely [if ever] enjoy the individual freedom, prosperity and power that we currently enjoy as Americans.
As was asked in the movie, “The Matrix,” the question you must answer is,
Will you take the blue pill and wake up in a society with few individual rights and a little security, or will you take the red pill and go forward into a society fraught with risk and filled with individual freedom and prosperity?Long Live Our American Republic!!!
What do you think?
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posted by Will Malven at 7:42 PM
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