If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
– George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
You might remember this post from a couple of weeks ago, where I railed against the Department of Homeland Security’s new policy that allows them to seize laptops, iPods, and other electronic devices from anyone entering the United States. You don’t have to be a “filthy foreigner”, a suspect in a crime, or even on the incredibly accurate “no-fly” list. You just have to piss off the wrong DHS agent on the wrong day.
Now there’s word that the federal government is tracking the border crossings of US citizens. Oh, they promise that they won’t do any mining of the data… and you believe that, right? Customs and Border Protection even says that they’ll keep the information in their database… for 15 years! And this is data which the DHS readily admits that it will share with other federal agencies, as well as state and local governments.
The saddest thing about all this (to me) is that this is the same federal government that has for years refused to defend the borders of the United States, a task which is one of the basic jobs of any national government. Almost every single right-wing commentator on TV and radio has demanded only that the government simply enforce existing immigration laws. Despite this, the government has turned a blind eye to the millions of Mexicans coming into this country, while it (now) steadily takes away the fundamental freedoms of Americans. So it seems that any terrorist could simply enter Mexico and cross the border scot-free at almost any point… but an American returning from any foreign country now gets their name in a database for 15 years. Yeah, because that make sense!
Again, let me ask: when is the Second American Revolution coming?