Editorial

Death by a Thousand Cuts

David A. Lombardo

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," wrote Benjamin Franklin in 1775. Those words, written on behalf of the Pennsylvania Assembly in a letter to the Governor, went unheeded. Every government body since has embarked upon a never-ending crusade to protect people from themselves, and doing so always requires chipping away at John Q's privacy and personal freedoms.

This body of farmers and tradesmen we elect to run our country operate under the delusion that the mere fact they are elected makes them experts on what's good for the ignorant fools they leave behind in their home districts. In the 240 years hence, our elected officials have crafted a shield of the words, "It's for the common good." The shield is used to deflect criticism of an ever-increasing body of law that justifies John Q's loss of privacy and personal freedoms. It is the American version of Chinese Lingchi.

Lingchi was a form of torture and execution that originated in Imperial China, more commonly known as death by a thousand cuts. The modern political term is "creeping normality." It is the way a major negative change, which happens slowly in many unnoticed increments, is not perceived as objectionable by John Q.

One might accuse me of paranoia, but the fact is the federal government has grown exponentially in its reach to the point it intrudes into virtually every aspect of our daily lives, from the type of toilet we can buy, to the mix of fuel we put in our cars, to the kind of light bulb we can use.

On a macrocosm scale the liberal "smarter than thou" mentality in such arenas as oil exploration and global warming (to name but a few) has resulted in disastrous economic consequences which may haunt us for a hundred years. And while I deplore the economic atrocities foisted upon our nation, my real concern is Franklin's prophetic words about trading liberty for safety.

Since the 9/11 attacks we have seen Congress incrementally pass laws that increasingly deprive John Q of personal freedom and privacy. Lawmakers deflect criticism of each new law with the "It's for the common good" shield. We have seen the implementation of red light cameras to protect us from traffic accidents, yet they result in causing more accidents. Undaunted, we are the beneficiaries of speed cameras designed to slow traffic and increase safety. Eventually we discover these are scams, and the truth is there is no government program except to enrich the already rich. But it turns out there's a more Draconian reason: being able to track where John Q is going.

Then we learn there are cameras designed to read license plates that are not only mounted permanently in some locations but are also deployed on government vehicles that wander the streets, keeping tabs on where people are going. And to make matters worse, they are being used to target specific individuals, such as concealed carry permit holders.

The rise of auto surveillance has happened so rapidly that John Q still hasn't wrapped his brain around it. Here's the scoop: there is an enormous database of license plate scanners operated by as many as 70 percent of all local law enforcement agencies across the country. In part, this system is being quietly put in place with the goal of using it to implement a user road tax in which how much you drive will be the basis for what you'll be charged.

If you think that's just urban legend paranoia, think again. The system is already in place and being beta tested in Oregon as a way of ensuring that electric vehicles pay for their road use. The upshot is the simple act of leaving your garage makes you a target of government surveillance, but it gets worse. The Department of Justice is also tapped into the system.

The DOJ has already begun tracking license plates. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the ACLU indicate that the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have tapped into the system too. The latter two had plans to dispatch vehicles equipped with the camera surveillance equipment to go to gun shows to identify and record who attends. Those agencies, once caught in the act, have proclaimed it was only floated as an idea but never implemented. John Q can rest assured it won't happen because our government said so.

John Q, wake up and smell the coffee! This administration and all of its subordinate federal agencies is out of control, and your personal safety and economic well-being are at risk. The time for action is now; the time to rout liberalism from every corner of government is now. To ignore the issue is to put this nation at risk of self-destruction.