In 1949, George Orwell wrote 1984, a chilling tale of life under totalitarianism, 35 years into the future. When that year arrived, our enlightened media scoffed, saying that it had not happened. My own reaction was simply “not yet”. As I argued in a letter to the editor that year, Orwell simply failed to anticipate the drag on technology caused by government regulation. In 1984, we didn’t have the technology necessary for universal surveillance of the citizenry. IBM probably could have provided it, but they had been slowed down by increasing government regulation, not to mention massive antitrust litigation.
But 25 years on, we’re about there. The technology exists, and is being deployed. CCTV cameras cover almost every square inch of London, and are rapidly being installed in most US cities. Worse yet, many people who would have protested such intrusive government surveillance 25 years ago now accept red light cameras, speeding cameras, and massive government eavesdropping on telephones and e-mail as “necessary” security measures. We line up, take off our shoes and submit to totally unconstitutional searches just to get on an airplane. So they not only have the technology, they have our acquiescence.
Think about it. Not a day that goes by without a story in your local newspaper about technology used to ticket a traffic scofflaw, catch a criminal, or bust a cheating spouse. Surveillance videos are reviewed any time something happens, even in seemingly remote locations. No trial lawyer would start a case without demanding e-mail records, even of those thought long since deleted. Passing through a toll booth leaves your presence time- and date-stamped, and don’t even ask about your cell phone records!
And how do they keep us from demanding our freedom back? Fear, the eternal tool of tyrants. In 1984, Orwell spoke of endless wars in far off corners of the earth. Today we have active wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, frequent incursions into Pakistan and daily saber rattling over Iran. And to keep it geographically balanced, we have North Korea.
In case the wars don’t keep us fearful enough, we have terrorist plots and pandemics. I don’t think the terrorist threat level has ever gotten below “Amber”, and the swine flu makes the news daily. The swine flu “pandemic” hasn’t killed nearly as many people as the plain old seasonal flu, but you wouldn’t know it from the main stream media. Before that, it was the avian flu, similarly a non-event, and before that, SARS. Remember SARS? A “totally new” virus, almost always fatal, and against which we had “no natural immunity”. If we had “no natural immunity”, why didn’t we all catch it, and why are any of us still here to read my blog?
In Washington, the fear-mongering goes on. Without health care reform, we can’t possibly continue to afford health care. (I’m afraid we’re about to find out how well we can afford it WITH health care reform!) And just in case the tea bag movement figures out that health care reform is a really bad deal, don’t forget global warming. After eleven years of global cooling, we’re still being threatened with “imminent” catastrophe if we don’t give up our modern way of life and go back to living in caves. As if the government has EVER been the solution, and not the cause, of almost any problem you can think of.
Why are we afraid, and in the light of history, how can we possibly believe that government will protect us? Freedom has blessed America with unimaginable wealth, ever improving standards of living, longer, healthier lives, and countless other blessings. Our government has brought us wars, panics, recessions, bubbles, the Great Depression and very likely another one in the making. They’ve also brought us the public school system, the post office and the DMV. Yet we are about to let that same government take over our health care and tax affordable, reliable energy out of existence.
Even George Orwell would be amazed.