[TheForge] Criminal Background Check

[Andrew Vida]

ries wrote:
> On Jan 28, 2009, at 3:19 PM, Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
> 
> 	Someone will doubtlessly point out that they can get it if they want
> it.  This is so, but why make it easy for them?  And giving it to them
> probably constitutes tacit consent.  Deny them everything you can.
> 
> 
> Assuming they already have, or can get, any info they want on me with  
> a few keystrokes, I dont care about making it easier, or harder, for  
> "THEM".
> 
> "THEY" can do whatever they want.

	Acting with consent is wholly and radically different from acting 
without it.
> 
> I am interesting in making it easier, and more convenient, for ME.

	That is the general problem with many people today - tunnel vision - 
all they see is what lies in a very narrow band of interests with no 
consideration of the hidden costs.  Nothing wrong with "improving" your 
life, but that is not the only dimension to the issues at hand.  Piece 
by piece liberties are whittled away.  Today it may affect things of 
concern only to others - but if you do not help look out for their 
rights, who may be left to help you with yours, should the hand of the 
paranoid security state decide to trim them up a bit?

> Theoretical possibilities are all well and good

	These are not all just theoretical.  With the advent of civil 
forfeiture, for example, many *thousands* of people have had their lives 
ruined by the various enforcement agencies without just cause.  The 
litany of cases is appalling in size and nature.

 >, but I got a life to
> live- and having a drivers license, a credit card, and the ability to  
> navigate the modern world is worth time and money to me every day of  
> my life.

	You're willing to play the odds with your freedoms, but I wonder that 
if the day ever came where you ended up on the wrong end of criminal 
charges, or a cop's gun because of all that the great security state 
demands, might you come to a different opinion on it?
> 
> If needed, I will take up arms (and make em in the shop, for that  
> matter) against dictatorial governments, foreign invaders, or aliens  
> in UFO's. But my best guess is, if any of that is needed, the  
> electrical grid, and the associated electronic records, will be one of  
> the first things to go.
> 
> I worry about the stuff in front of me NOW.

	That is all fine and good, but I really do not think it is quite 
enough.  We have all seen how nutty people with power can get.  GW and 
his cadre should have been enough to convince anyone that our liberties 
are *not* safe, even under the best circumstances.  The endless parade 
of Bush and Clinton clones seems to make little impression on the minds 
of many who persist in the fantasy belief that "it cannot happen here". 
  It IS happening here and we each have a choice to make - to give in or 
to resist.  There are no other available options on this one.  Doing 
nothing *is* choosing - choosing to accept limits placed on your life 
that no person has any right to impose, except with your consent.  You 
may feel that none of this constitutes such an imposition, but many do. 
  I would suggest that perhaps at least you could be mentally on board 
with defending their rights to choose differently from you, as they 
should so do in the interests of your choices.  Who was it, 
Hancock(Hamilton?) who said something to the effect that we must hang 
together or surely we will hang separately.  I think those words hold 
greater significance now than they did even then.  We are all in this 
together and if we do not watch each other's backs, we are all toast 
because those who would shackle us are playing for keeps.