A long time ago I read a SciFi novel, in which American society, was under the unrelenting oppression of a dystopian government. Although I can’t recall the name nor the author, it made a lasting impression on a young teenager.
The explanation for the cause as presented by the main character, it’s narrator, was one of an evolutionary nature. The novel asserted that this was America’s inevitable future. The lack of homogeneity in it’s society of immigrants lacking the uniformity of culture, customs and language, was exploited by big government elites who changed the nature of constitutional governance into one of technocratic malfeasance.
If you research the term police state, it describes a state whose government institutions exercise a level of control over civil liberties to various degrees. There is typically little or no distinction between the law, and the exercise of political power by the government, through the deployment of federal agencies, which play a heightened role in said government.
A police state is a characteristic of a government in which, although elections take place, the citizenry is excluded from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise the real power from the shadows, hiding behind the elected officials, who over time, construct a political establishment class. A sort of pseudo-monarchy of political elites.
The general consensus is that here in America, we have two major political parties. The truth of the matter is that we really have one. The Establishment party, which is made up of the leadership from both parties. They rotate in and out of committees, are perpetually re-elected in their gerrymandered districts, and stay in office for decades. Case and point, Joe Biden. Fifty years in office at last count. Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell etc.
Other recognizable characteristics of a police state is surveillance, which comes in a variety of ways. Drones, intelligence fusion centers, artificial intelligence algorithms, monitoring of social movements, particularly those who self-describe as patriotic, or pro-constitution.
Cameras with face recognition software, sound collection devices in public areas, such as parks and bus stops, train stations and airports. Geo-tracking of phones and vehicles. Technologies that can remotely activate phone, home PCs and smart TV microphones and cameras.
Social credit systems, social scoring matrixes, proof of vaccination documents, information gathering initiatives using school children and healthcare personnel, monitoring of credit card purchases, public service programs encouraging neighbors or citizenry in general, to spy or tell on others, such as the “see something-say something” currently active federal program.
Criminalization of Ideology, again towards certain groups that profess an affinity with the country’s founders, the constitution and Bill of Rights, particularly, the 2nd Amendment, or the pro-life movements. For example, consider the FBI “domestic terrorism” training, which focuses almost exclusively, on the two previously mentioned groups, using an über radical-leftist organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center, for its training material. Ironically, the SPLC should be on the FBI’s list of potential domestic terrorist groups. One of their lawyers, was recently arrested at an ANTIFA riot in Georgia.
A final, more nebulous characteristic of a police state is the extent to which all of the tactics above take place. It’s a question of degree and intensity, and some would argue that, even though these tactics are occurring with increasing frequency. But no matter how you feel about the characterization of what is occurring right now, the most important point is this: if we’re not a police state already, we are definitely marching closer and closer to one every day.
And let’s ignore at our own peril, the natural evolution process of soft tyrannies. They eventually evolve into full dystopian nightmares.
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