The Eye of Sauron:Freed Reed column

[CIB]

Fred Reed on our ever-increasing surveillance state.

http://www.fredoneverything.net/Saurons_Eye.shtml

I don't always agree with Reed, and often only agree with 75 percent of the columns I do agree with, but in this case I think he strikes a vein of gold. The heart of the matter:
"The political framework falls rapidly into place. Few or no safeguards exist, and probably few are possible. A growing authoritarianism rapidly erodes what protections we had. The courts allow random searches of passengers of trains and subways without probable cause. Warrantless tapping of personal communications is rampant, or done with secret warrants from a secret federal judge. TSA has Viper squads that stop cars at random for searches. In many places it is against the law to video the police, who everywhere become more militarized and less accountable. For practical purposes, citizens have no recourse.

At a higher level of generality, America is no longer a democracy. If you think this a rash assertion, ask yourself whether you have the slightest influence over policies that matter to you. Suppose that you want to end the wars, shrink the military, end affirmative action, genuinely change education, or reform a hostile and unworkable bureaucracy. Who do you vote for? Important policies are made in faceless bureaucracies immune to public influence. National politics employs a sort of political price-fixing, in which you are permitted to choose among a number on indistinguishable candidates and told that you are having an election.

None of this is going to stop.

Why is it happening? Some suspect a vast conspiracy to Sovietize the country. I doubt it. Don’t look for a conspiracy when human nature is an adequate explanation. Presidents never want to suffer the restraints on constitutionality, the agonizing slowness of a congress that often has little understanding of the issues; if presidents can do things by fiat, or secretly, they will. "

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For those getting home from work.

[zenwalk]

The truth gets ignored around here. Reed has said it well. We are in a surveillance state with data mining that would make Orwell's head spin. Yes, it's no longer a wise crack to say we live in an oligarchy, because we do. It's grim especially considering our legal eagles in Justice are busy shipping guns to Mexico, putting bags on heads, and finding reasons why its too hard to prosecute the thieves on Wall Street. It's screamingly bad. Reed at least can write in the relative safety from Mexico where I presume he still lives. We nortes on the other hand must choose our words carefully or face what remains of the law.

Good luck with this thread. No one cares.