I remember watching movies when I was a young child. I grew up in the sixties. I didn’t come of age then, I was born then. I thought the news footage of
There was an abundance of cheese in movies back then. War movies would feature soldiers being machine gunned, and blown up by aircraft and artillery. None of them ever bled, certainly none ever disintegrated on screen. War was tidy. I knew it was phony. I wasn’t sure how, but it didn’t ring true. Even at five I knew it was a fairytale. There were few that disturbed me, though not for footage of battle. Those old movies abut the Nazi occupation, usually in
Even at a young age, I thought that was one of the things that separated us as a country from the totalitarian nations of the world. Now the state sets up “safety checkpoints.” The first thing they check is are you wearing a seatbelt. They can pull you over for that now even if they see you on the freeway. Next is paper please. They call it license and proof of insurance, but a license proves your citizenship and insurance proves you are an obedient little citizen. After that, if they don’t like how you look, or your color, or your accent, or the length of your hair, or the way you dress, or how messy or old your car is, or if they are bored you get to do the sobriety field test polka as other citizens drive by, thinking “glad it’s not me.” Then, of they are generous, they let you go. If not, they pull you aside and turn your car inside out, looking for whatever. They are required to have a search warrant, but if you refuse to let them search, they will hold you until they get one. After all, refusing a search is suspicious behavior.
What about those boots in the hall? Do we have anything to fear? Ask Elian Gonzalez. You remember him? The 8 year old boy who sailed from
These are just two of the indicators that out nation is surrendering the bill of rights. The state is taking away our freedom. We are happy to give it away. We are… oops, sorry, gotta go. Someone’s knocking.