COMING SOON TO THE U.S.?

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #326

I have not been able independently to verify the truth of the attached video from NBC News, but I fully expect technologically it is doable.  What is it?  The logical extreme of the government observing, recording and controlling people’s actions.  About five years ago I saw an article written by a news reporter from the United States that said he had voluntarily provided his photograph to the Chinese government when he was in (I think it was) Beijing, and then tested the government’s ability to track him on the public sidewalks using their facial recognition video cameras and systems.  Within six minutes after he set foot out in public not only had they located the reporter, but they actually had police surrounding him.  But now, according to the attached, the government in Beijing can track virtually all people in that city by using facial recognition systems combined with millions of video cameras, and then it gives the tracked people a score on the government’s “Social Credit System.”  So if people do “good deeds,” like providing volunteer service, carrying a drunk person home or reporting some on misconduct by their neighbors, they get rewarded with things like cheap loans and travel deals.  But if they are found to be doing negative things, like littering, gossiping, having a messy yard, jay-walking or not paying a government fine, they will be publicly shamed on the evening news or have difficulty getting a job or getting their children into a good school.  Furthermore, according to NBC News, most Chinese citizens not only don’t mind this system, they actually even like it, because it helps them to become “better citizens.”

Do you want our government to adopt a program like this so we also can become better citizens?  As I have commented numbers of times in this 2 Paragraphs series, my research when composing the musical Convention: the Birth of America, which is about our 1787 Constitutional Convention, disclosed that all 55 of the convention’s delegates fought, bickered and debated about virtually everything.  But, for each of the 55 delegates, THE most important function of government was protecting our Liberties from the encroachment of government.  (The second-most important was keeping us safe.)  But how far have we come away from that approach since that time?  In my view, our Founders would be ashamed of us for allowing our governments to intrude so completely upon our Liberties.  What the Chinese government is doing is extreme, but our governments are not that far behind.  The IRS, Department of Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs , occupational licensing, the welfare and healthcare systems and more. . . .  Literally many immigrants who fled the authoritarian governments of China, the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela and East Germany to come to our country are now fearful that our government is becoming more like the governments from which they fled!  So, yes, it can happen and is happening here!  Please remember that it is our government, and if it isn’t working we have no one to blame but ourselves.  In summary, we must always be vigilant in protecting our Liberty from the encroachment of government!  And today we’re not doing a particularly good job!

Story for the week: Marriage Counselor to the husband: “Your wife says that you don’t buy her flowers.”  Husband in response: “I didn’t know she sold flowers.”