Smile you’re in a police state

The FBI is spending a billion dollars on face recognition software. The police state marches forward. Remember how the Nazis were terrible for having files on everyone? When the Soviets watched every move of its citizens? I don’t think the FBI is on the side of the angels here.

Constant surveillance, TSA shake downs, drones, enemy combatant status, police and border patrol checkpoints, welcome to the land of the free. Machiavelli said that one of the ways to take over a country is to keep all the old institutions and forms, but then change the way it really works. We still have a constitution and a legal framework, but they don’t really mean much any more. RIP USA.

We know that the TSA scanners main purpose is to enrich scanner makers, along with their investors -many of which were the same politicians that created the TSA. The face recognition software is making some tech companies very very wealthy. Wars and the police state have been good for the military industrial complex.

But hey, that’s no reason to be gloomy, right? Sure the populace has been dumbed down to accept this crap. Real criminals go unpunished. Freedom erodes daily. In spite of that we have reason to believe this is only temporary.

What happens to a police state when the state can no longer pay its police? In Greece there are fights breaking out between regular cops and riot police. Your average cop isn’t a bad guy. He wants to do the right thing. He loves his family and his country. Many in the service today still believe in Protecting and Serving. Then there are those who are bullies. They tend to end up in SWAT and riot squads. Joe good cop sees his wages and pension going away. They see the break down of a free society. Joe is as disturbed about the direction of the country as the rest of us. The bullies on the other hand, just love to play soldier and push people around. I’m betting this country has a lot more Joes than bullies. Of course, stop paying the bullies and not too many of those guys will stick around either.

Then there’s the whole electronic surveillance system. That whole wiz bang sci-fi system is sitting on top of a decaying and increasing shaky electric grid system. No electric power, no surveillance. Freedom is only a blackout away. Sure there are some backup systems, but not a lot and few if any are set up for long term outages. Backup systems aren’t sexy so they don’t get the budget they need.

Did you every have computer problems from electrical issues? Power spikes, brown outs, black outs? Ever lose information? Hardware? Does it take a while for your system to reboot and get running again? Now imagine that with systems 1000 times more complex than your home computer.

The police state is fragile. Why do you think they try so hard to keep the lid on? If more than a handful of people resist, the whole facade falls apart. People in fear and ignorant people are easier to control, so we are kept dumb and threatened by the boogie man.

Here’s the thing. We still believe we are the home of the free. People can only ignore evidence to the contrary for so long. The stress from believing one thing and observing something else takes its toll. One day people decide they aren’t going to take it anymore. A long tradition of freedom doesn’t mesh well with a police state.

So smile, you’re on police state camera, but so is everyone else. Absolutely everyone is now a potential threat to them. No wonder they are nervous.

-Sixbears