I agree about the explosion of information, computing power, and the potential for intrusive databases.
All the more reason to *oppose* creeping Authoritarianism by carefully crafting efficient STRUCTURAL protections for an individual's right to privacy... firewalls and impediments in the way of an over-arching Ubergovernment concentrating all power into itself.
Our founding fathers had the right idea: they put their trust NOT in fallable individuals, they did NOT count on the rights of the people being preserved or extended by honorable, honest, wise men.
Rather, they sought to *enable* a chance for citizen's rights to endure by DIVIDING the powers of government against itself... counterbalancing one branch's powers against the others.
This, IMO, has served us very well, but it is not flawless, not perfect, the Executive has slowly but steadily been gaining mastery over the other branchs, and the ENTIRE GOVERNMENT complex has been, even faster, growing like a cancer and sucking resources from the private economy.
We may be near some important natural boundaries now --- where government has grown so much, and extended the tendrils of it's massively over-complex and corrupt taxation regime into and throughout the productive economy so far --- that a tipping point has been reached.
Further growth of the government complex (as a proportion of the total economy), further deficit financing and fiat currency creation, becomes almost ENTIRELY NEGATIVE to the nation (*despite* whatever hallowed goal the bureaucrats claim to be persuing with their 'debt and phoney money' strategy), and serve merely to hasten the decline of the nation, and all our 'long-term' prospects.
So... again, IMO, at this juncture some Constitutional tinkering may be necessary to help restore and revitalize that great vision of our founders --- and a Constitutional constraint against endless debt expansion would seem to be our best option to counteract the creeping growth of the government complex, AND the massive expansion of it's powers over the individual. |
