Posted on 04/28/2020 4:11:32 AM PDT by Kaslin
All my life, I have dismissed paranoids on the right ("America is headed to communism") and the left ("It can happen here" -- referring to fascism). It's not that I've ever believed liberty was guaranteed. Being familiar with history and a pessimist regarding the human condition, I never believed that.
But the ease with which police state tactics have been employed and the equal ease with which most Americans have accepted them have been breathtaking.
People will argue that a temporary police state has been justified because of the allegedly unique threat to life posed by the new coronavirus. I do not believe the data will bear that out. Regardless, let us at least agree that we are closer to a police state than ever in American history.
"Police state" does not mean totalitarian state. America is not a totalitarian state; we still have many freedoms. In a totalitarian state, this article could not be legally published, and if it were illegally published, I would be imprisoned and/or executed. But we are presently living with all four of the key hallmarks of a police state:
No. 1: Draconian laws depriving citizens of elementary civil rights.
The federal, state, county and city governments are now restricting almost every freedom except those of travel and speech. Americans have been banned from going to work (and thereby earning a living), meeting in groups (both indoors and outdoors), meeting in their cars in church parking lots to pray and entering state-owned properties such as beaches and parks -- among many other prohibitions.
No. 2: A mass media supportive of the state's messaging and deprivation of rights.
The New York Times, CNN and every other mainstream mass medium -- except Fox News, The Wall Street Journal (editorial and opinion pages only) and talk radio -- have served the cause of state control over individual Americans' lives just as Pravda served the Soviet government. In fact, there is almost no more dissent in The New York Times than there was in Pravda. And the Big Tech platforms are removing posts about the virus and potential treatments they deem "misinformation."
No. 3: Use of police.
Police departments throughout America have agreed to enforce these laws and edicts with what can only be described as frightening alacrity. After hearing me describe police giving summonses to, or even arresting, people for playing baseball with their children on a beach, jogging alone without a mask, or worshipping on Easter while sitting isolated in their cars in a church parking lot, a police officer called my show. He explained that the police have no choice. They must respond to every dispatch they receive.
"And why are they dispatched to a person jogging on a beach or sitting alone in a park?" I asked.
Because the department was informed about these lawbreakers.
"And who told the police about these lawbreakers?" I asked.
His answer brings us to the fourth characteristic of a police state:
No. 4: Snitches.
How do the police dispatchers learn of lawbreakers such as families playing softball in a public park, lone joggers without face masks, etc.? From their fellow citizens snitching on them. The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, set up a "snitch line," whereby New Yorkers were told to send authorities photos of fellow New Yorkers violating any of the quarantine laws. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti similarly encouraged snitching, unabashedly using the term.
It is said that about 1 in every 100 East German citizens were informers for the Stasi, the East German secret police, as superbly portrayed in the film "The Lives of Others." It would be interesting, and, I think, important, to know what percentage of New Yorkers informed on their fellow citizens. Now, again, you may think such a comparison is not morally valid, that de Blasio's call to New Yorkers to serve a Stasi-like role was morally justified given the coronavirus pandemic. But you cannot deny it is Stasi-like or that, other than identifying spies during World War II, this is unprecedented in American history at anywhere near this level.
This past Friday night, I gathered with six others for a Shabbat dinner with friends in Santa Monica, California. On my Friday radio show, I announced I would be doing that, and if I was arrested, it would be worth it. In my most pessimistic dreams, I never imagined that in America, having dinner at a friend's house would be an act of civil disobedience, perhaps even a criminal act. But that is precisely what happens in a police state.
The reason I believe this is a dress rehearsal is that too many Americans appear untroubled by it; the dominant force in America, the left, supports it, and one of the two major political parties has been taken over by the left. Democrats and their supporters have, in effect, announced they will use state power to enforce any law they can to combat the even greater "existential" crisis of global warming.
On the CNN website this weekend, in one of the most frightening and fanatical articles in an era of fanaticism, Bill Weir, CNN chief climate correspondent, wrote an open letter to his newborn son. In it, he wrote of his idealized future for America: "completely new forms of power, food, construction, transportation, economics and politics."
You cannot get there without a police state.
If you love liberty, you must see that it is jeopardized more than at any time since America's founding. And that means, among other things, that at this time, a vote for any Democrat is a vote to end liberty.
Pandemics come and go.
Economies go up and down.
But a police state can stay with you for decades. That’s the danger. Whatever else happens, we should always choose Liberty. We certainly didn’t this time.
I have news for Mr. Prager. The dirty little secret of the human condition is that most people would be perfectly content living in a police state because they are emotionally conditioned to have their lives managed by others. This really is part of the human condition.
It ain’t a “rehearsal.” America IS a Police State.
I think, though, that a large-enough group of citizens are just about at the end of their ropes with this, and are spontaneously starting revolts. These numbers will increase as the weeks wear on.
I am saddened by the response of your average police officer - they seem to really enjoy the power and cache that comes with being a "law-enforcer" on their fellow citizens.
So now we know for certain. When the S really does HTF, who our allies will, and won't be.
Better to find out now.
The part that makes me angry the most are the police enforcers going along with this crap. It’s obvious that they know which side their bread is buttered. But there is a glimmer of hope that soon there ain’t enough of them to hold back the tide of freedom loving people saying to hell with these draconian orders. Get tough or die.
Our Dress Rehearsal for a Police State.
Imagine being told last December that this would be imposed by law in February. But you didn’t know it would be caused by a virus. This is our worst fear come true and we are somehow accepting it. (excellent article)
We are headed to a police state but not from the Commies or the Globalists. It is going to be necessary to fix our country.
I agree completely, Kaslin. I find it hard to believe people who are proSanders not understanding how really terrible socialism or communism is.
I am so old I remember WWII, then the Korean War, then and then and then. I remember people, people like neighbors saying ‘We should call the police.” about behavior it wasn’t ours to evaluate. It is not unlike neighbors complaining about other neighbors who have guns and go to the range to shoot. And I am no longer non-plussed by police men and women who think that having an unconcealed gun is tantamount to insurrection in a state where carrying unconcealed is legal.
As our population becomes more and more ignorant about our Constitution, Amendments and rule of law and functions of our various arms of government, we can expect more and more ignorance to be displayed in terms of promoting socialism and communism...or agreement to support the Elite who are into the ONE WORLD Government and no borders.
One perfect example is the reign of terror of Nancy Pelosi. She is certifiably insane in my opinion and yet she has a substantial following...I hope they are mostly Californians who don’t have a functioning logical brain between each other if they are avowed Democrats.
And, as a former teacher, I’d say it is due to our educational system that no longer talks about history, government, and the running of a constitutional democratic republic.
Frankly I think all logical thinkers are doomed.
“The reason I believe this is a dress rehearsal is that too many Americans appear untroubled by it.”
No, but if someone had predicted it, it wouldn't have surprised me. Recall, if you will, those old "vaccination" threads on this forum, that would inevitably turn into rhetorical slugfests between freedom-lovers and germophobes. It seems there is absolutely nothing people fear so much as contamination by unseen pathogens.
Police state...
Saw that Elon Musk conga line of satellites whizzing overhead last night.
This has gone from creepy to scary.
Pols make pathogens look like pikers.
Yet police do come and go: The ending of the “Iron Curtain” in 1989.
Good news,Americans have started to take their country back: the recent protests.
There is good news.
I am slightly heartened by the uprisings we’ve seen, because I believe that those represent about 10% of the actual sentiment. It’s hard to say how many would be moved to actually act, and what it would take.
I’m less heartened to finally understand that the police exist to protect the rights of the state, not the individual. But there is value in the knowledge, and I’m far from the only one who has internalized that message. It’s much easier today to point out the fallacy of the nanny state in casual conversation because it’s plainly obvious; before, you’d be attacked because your concerns were merely political polemics or ‘theory.
Possibly the best news to come out of this is that the academic state is being examined, at least in part. Progressive nests— universities— will be burning cash because dorms (revenue centers) and classrooms across much of the US next year will be closed. Tenured faculty are under scrutiny.
We should use that to our advantage. Coupled with the ridiculous costs of higher ed, one can imagine, if not see, the cracks in the armor.
Finally, most people got a taste— or at least a whiff— of deprivation, and the idea of ‘prepper’ as a derogatory term will be no longer fashionable.
The opportunity in a crisis cuts both ways. Let’s not miss ours.
bfl
Yes. The vaccine discussions are a bit of a canary in the coal mine. If you crave “safety”, get the standard vaccinations for your family. If a novel virus comes along, put yourself in isolation. But what gives anyone the right to control me? Why should I be forced to take a vaccination? Why should I be forced to hide in my house because other people are sick? I should make my own choices. America takes a wrong turn when the government forces us to live in fear.
As they say, You have a right to swing your arm, but that right stops when you get to my nose. That’s clever, and I think it is correct. But I would not carry such thinking all the way through to: You have the right to leave your house and sit in your car at church, but that right stops if I’m afraid of a virus. No. That’s just a bridge too far.
The part that makes me angry the most are the police enforcers going along with this crap. It’s obvious that they know which side their bread is buttered. But there is a glimmer of hope that soon there ain’t enough of them to hold back the tide of freedom loving people saying to hell with these draconian orders. Get tough or die.
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As a retired law enforcement officer, let me remind you that these folks are more worried about losing their jobs and less about going along with this crap. We follow orders because to do otherwise means we lose what we’ve worked very hard to attain. Most of us will not cross the line towards anything blatantly illegal. But please consider the other sides motivation before passing judgement, please.
I was surprised how many FReepers thought these lockdowns, and forced business closings were a good idea. If some of the people here can fall prey to fear, hysteria, and Fake News, anybody can.
This has been a huge win for the Left.
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