We Promise We Will Be Good

I mentioned the initial reports of this audit yesterday, and have spoken out continuously against the Patriot Act. Now we know - some of the terrible truth.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

Of course they "vowed" to stop this, meaning they vow not to get caught in the future. Do you really believe that law enforcement folks in the US would actually give up such a powerful tool?

I recall Joshua commenting on how unique an experience it is to live in Korea and experience their style of policing. It is not the in your face sort you find in the state. In fact, you can be confident that the friendly police you see about will not accidentally shoot you during a traffic stop- they generally do not make traffic stops at all. The roads here are free-market in action and rely heavily on good human nature to function. Our entire theory of police operation in the US is very much "in your face", from traffic stops to high-tech covert spying.

Based upon the obvious and not so obvious mode of operations exercised by police in the US it is hard to imagine that the FBI is really ready to give up all the power of the Patriot Act. In fact, it is reasonable to assume, that this is exactly the sort of legal power they have sought since the days of Hoover.

All Hail the Nanny-State

A strange culture of emergency has taken over this country, and the slightest provocation triggers it. It could be an expected terrorist or just an old-fashioned weather warning. The officials are quick to swing into action, and tell you what to do.

The problem is that these demands are often based on nothing other than government plans that are not in your best interest. It behooves all of us to think carefully about genuine preparedness, which might often involve bucking the system and telling the emergency nazis to mind their own business. (Lew Rockwell)

Joshua pointed this article out, I have not had a lot of time to read much on the Net so I am happy that he did. A month or so ago he and I contemporaneously discussed the concept of survivalist and preparedness. It is an interesting topic for me, Blackfive covered the topic recently, it was overall a good read.

I suppose as a country boy/former boy scout/life time soldier I take this survival/preparedness stuff for granted. I am never without a "bug-out" bag no matter where I am and no matter what I am doing.

The notion that only the government can possibly know best is fundamentally flawed in almost every conceivable circumstance. I recall the last time my children were enrolled in a government run school receiving a memorandum one day laying out the school's plan for emergency situations.

This plan included shuttling the children to an undisclosed location, refusing to allow them to call home and not allowing parents to come to the school and pick their children up once an "emergency" was declared but before the government workers took them into hiding.

I was irate that night. My wife was upset but not to the extent I was. That was the seminal event that essentially pushed me over the edge and helped me convince my wife that there were many reasons that our children should be educated elsewhere (there were of course many other good reasons but this act of insanity was a big motivator for me).

This is but a small example of the very dangerous mindset that has overtaken our government and has been meekly accepted by most docile Americans.