The Road to Hell is Being Paved and Our Government is Laying the Asphalt

by Mark Lerner  (September 21, 2013)       Stop Real ID Coalition            Constitutional Alliance     

OUR government is laying the asphalt but the public is willingly driving down the road. I have written previously about there being two types of control, one being direct control and the other indirect control. I will explain how right I was in identifying these two types of control in this article. I will also explain how state lawmakers are selling out the people in their states. Further, “Christians” had better start paying attention because they are driving down the same road as others are. Finally, I will explain how we are fundamentally changing the relationship between government and the people. In the conclusion, I will discuss what must be done NOW.

Direct control is when we are told that we may or may not do something by authorities. Indirect control is when we do or do not do something because of fear or intimidation. 

Leadership only works when there is respect. That respect may be for a person or for the office a person holds. When fear or intimidation is the basis for complying with laws, regulations and policies, eventually there will be “revolt” and thus non-compliance. At that point there will be a complete disregard for the rule of law. When you have a complete disregard for the rule of law then there will be chaos.

In the United States citizens have rights. These rights are not conditional on government approval. When citizens have rights that are conditional on governmental approval, these rights become privileges.

Many people including political scientists, attorneys/law professors, and sociologists have written how we have militarized local law enforcement. We have taken tactics and “hardware” from the battlefield and moved them into OUR local communities. This is being done with complete disregard for how the militarization of local law enforcement has changed the relationship between local law enforcement and the people local law enforcement serve. Never forget law enforcement is supposed to “protect and serve”, not be the judge and jury.

Why would I suggest law enforcement has become the judge and jury? It is because predictive analysis is a tool that law enforcement is relying on now. A simple explanation of predictive analysis is that it is a tool that supposedly allows law enforcement to be able to determine where crime will happen, who will commit the crime, when it is most likely to happen, and what the crime will be. It is not only local law enforcement that is using predictive analysis but state and federal law enforcement as well. The use of a computer algorithm tells law enforcement if you are most likely to be a threat to someone or something. If the computer determines you are, or might be, a threat then you will be detained by law enforcement until such time when law enforcement decides you are not a threat. This makes law enforcement the judge and jury.

The public is accepting predictive analysis because it believes it will prevent crime and thus make the public safer.

The militarization of law enforcement and predictive analysis are fairly new phenomena to local, state, and federal law enforcement. Few are asking, what is the downside to the use of these new “tools”.

We should not be surprised that few are asking what the downside is. Few are asking what is the downside to mandated biometric (facial recognition, fingerprinting, iris scans, palm vein geometry, DNA, etc.) enrollment.

I have written previously that a surveillance society/state and free society cannot be reconciled. Nobody has come forward to dispute this fact. Nobody is arguing that we have not created a surveillance state. How can they? We, or actually law enforcement, now has Automatic License Plate Readers, drones, Closed Circuit Television Cameras, mandated biometric enrollment which among other things allows for Remote Biometric Identification (identifying people from a distance using facial recognition software – mapping of the face), warrantless searches (National Security Letters), FAST (Future Attribute Screening Technology) (computer software that supposedly allows for the determination of whether a person is behaving in such as way that it allows law enforcement to say the person is being deceptive or acting with mal-intent), and many other invasive surveillance technologies. The only conclusion we can make is we no longer live in a free society. I understand the reluctance of many to accept this conclusion but that reluctance does not change what is fact.

For those still not convinced, consider new databases are being created and existing databases are being linked. The goal is to know everything about everyone. The single largest user of data mining companies is government. The magazines you subscribe to, the organizations you belong to, the charities you give to, the uses of credit cards you have, the schools you have attended, whether you are or have ever been married, if you have children, where you live and have lived, the properties you own, the cars you have, whether you own a cell phone and if so is the phone a “smart” phone, and nearly everything else that pertains to YOU is stored in the databases of data mining companies and thus the government.

Still not convinced? Consider that the back of your driver’s license has what is called a “Machine Readable Zone” (MRZ). Privacy advocates argued that the MRZ should be encrypted. The MRZ contains the information that is displayed on the front of your driver’s license. By not encrypting the MRZ anyone including law enforcement and retailers can “swipe” the back of your driver’s license and have a digital record of the information on your driver’s license and the date/time that your driver’s license was swiped.

Earlier I said the goal is to know everything about everyone. This requires the use of databases to store all the information that is collected about each of us, thus the digitalization of all our personal information including our biometrics. This is why in previous writings I referred to a 24/7 digital footprint. Automatic License Plate Readers capture the license plate “numbers” of thousands of cars a minute. The information is stored in databases allowing law enforcement to “plug in” your license number and see when and where you have been in your car. Because databases are “connected” or “linked”, an officer can also know by the use of a wireless computer in their car if you have outstanding parking tickets, automobile insurance, an outstanding bench warrant for your arrest, if you have paid your personal property tax for the car you own, if you have not complied with a zoning enforcement citation and much more. Previously I discussed the “swiping” of your driver’s license. This swiping is also a part of ensuring there is a 24/7 digital footprint of everything you do, who you do it with, where you were doing whatever it is you were doing, how you got to whatever it is you are doing and with predictive analysis, why you are doing what you are doing. One final but nevertheless important fact dealing with the 24/7 digital footprint is the role mandated biometric enrollment and Remote Biometric Enrollment plays in the 24/7 digital footprint. Anytime you are in the line of sight of a CCTV camera, a drone, a police officer with a smart phone that can “capture” your facial image, or any number of other “devices” that can capture your facial image, you will be able to be identified (assuming the technology works as advertised and it does not) and tracked wherever you go. The same technology will also be able to identify all the people you come into contact with. Keep in mind while this is being done a computer will be making a determination about whether you or the people you come into contact with, are a threat to someone or something.

I have no doubt that by now you are convinced that we, or more precisely, our government has created a surveillance state. After years of meeting with private citizens, state lawmakers, members of state and national groups/organizations, members of congress and their staff, and the people in media, I know there are those that will say “We are, or our privacy is secure/safe when we are in our homes.” I do not like bursting people’s bubbles but because of the smart grid, smart meters, and smart appliances you are not “safe/secure” in your home. Your “smart” TV, refrigerator, computer and other “smart devices” can be remotely accessed allowing anyone including bad guys or law enforcement to know what you are doing and who you are doing whatever with, at anytime without your knowledge or consent.

“Consent” is arguably the most important word of the day. According to the Declaration of Independence and other documents our forefathers penned, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —.” In our country today the governed now require the consent of government. If you choose to fly, drive, visit your elected or appointed leaders in their offices, attend a rally or protest (permits required), and much more, you must have the consent of government and in most cases, law enforcement. Before you will be able to do anything you must first get a stamp of approval from some far away computer that is deciding whether you are a threat. If the computer is not be making that determination at any given point in time you will still have to provide your driver’s license or other form of “acceptable” documentation to someone, most likely a law enforcement officer, to be able to do what it is you are trying to do. Currently in municipalities and other jurisdictions it is being considered that whenever groups of people will be meeting or gathering, individuals must provide approved identification documents. The idea being if a crime or terrorist attack takes place there will be a digital record or accounting of everyone who attended the “event”.

As many of you may or may not know my particular concern is about mandated biometric enrollment. The reasons I am so passionate about my opposition to mandated biometrics start with my religious objection. In the title of this document I wrote about a road to hell. The consistency between what is happening today in our country and around the world, and what we are told in scripture is inescapable. You can read other documents I have written which are available on the Constitutional Alliance’s website to understand these consistencies www.constitutionalalliance.org. Additionally, there can be no denying that biometrics is the lynchpin of a surveillance society.

Christians that blindly accept a surveillance state fear men more than God. To those Christians who believe they should blindly submit to what government does because of their understanding of Romans 13:1-7, I can only encourage you to watch a video of a sermon Pastor Dan Fisher of the Trinity Baptist Church of Yukon gave. You can watch that video by visiting http://new.livestream.com/trinitybaptistyukon/events/2322718. If you want, you can start watching the video at the 35 minute mark. Christians will better understand when they should submit to authority by watching the video. Pastor Fisher addressed this very important issue in a way that few others have been able to do so. I would also add that Christians who do not know or understand that they are being enrolled into a global system of identification that directly links their body, using biometrics, to their ability to buy, sell, travel and if Congress has its way, work should visit the Constitutional Alliance website and read what I have written on this very important issue to the Church. Spiritual blindness like ignorance is no excuse for participating in a system God clearly condemns. God does not need a surveillance society. God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at all times. Satan, who does not have the power of God, does need a surveillance society. Finally, on this point, when man attempts to know everything about everyone, man is trying to be God-like. That is what Satan wants man to believe about him; that Satan is God-like. God created man in His image: Man is not God.

To those who are not Christians, you should be opposing a surveillance state because when government tells you that you must first have the approval of government to do something, you are giving government control that our forefathers never intended that government have. Our Constitution is the foundation of the rule of law in our country. At the very heart of our Constitution and our criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence. There is nothing that I have written about in this document or for that matter, about what our government is doing that even hints that our government, which includes law enforcement, cares any longer about the presumption of innocence. The reality today is we are each “suspects” until a computer says we do not present a threat. In 2009 the Department of Homeland Security produced a report titled “Domestic Extremism Lexicon”. This report lists too many groups to name in this document, but if you are a member or supporter of one of these groups, you are considered a potential domestic terrorist. Most citizens fall into one of the groups named in the report.

NSA domestic spying, the DEA lying to judges and prosecutors about how they obtained evidence, the FBI abusing National Security Letters, local law enforcement using military tactics and hardware, identifying people in public thus removing a citizen’s right to anonymity when there is no “reasonable suspicion”, mandated biometric enrollment, and much more must all come to end. There are reasonable and constitutional measures we can and should take to address public safety and terrorism concerns but destroying the very values and principles that our country was founded on will not make us safer; we will only be more stifled in ensuring government has the consent of the governed rather than the governed requiring the consent of government.

It is fair to ask, which are you more afraid of, speaking out against the overreaching intrusiveness of what government is doing because of fear that you will end up on some government list, or being a victim of crime or terrorism? If your answer is you are more afraid of being a victim of crime or terrorism, you are a coward and a disgrace to all who have fought for the freedom so many of us cherish.

One brave woman in Oklahoma is at the tip of the spear in protecting the rights of citizens. This woman, Kaye Beach is sacrificing not just for herself but all citizens. If you are a Christian and not supporting Kaye Beach because her Christian religious beliefs may not be identical to your own then shame on you. Kaye is fighting to protect religious freedom and in doing so is fighting to protect all of our rights. Religious freedom is about freedom of conscience; whether you are a person of faith or not, you have a constitutional right to believe what you believe. Kaye Beach is embattled in what to this point has been a two year plus fight against mandated biometric enrollment. Soon, I do not know exactly when, the judge in the case will make a very important ruling. Kaye’s attorneys have filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. The case may or may not end with the judge’s ruling.

This is a marathon not a sprint. If you are looking for quick fixes you are part of the problem not the solution. We did not get to where we are as a country in a short period of time; it took decades. Kaye’s case may result in Kaye prevailing in a month or so or it could take many months. This is a fight not just about you and your rights but about the type of country we will leave for the children of today and the future. This is a fight to ensure the brave men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom have not died in vain. This is a fight that will determine if we as country are going to allow fundamentally the relationship between government and the people to be changed in a way that the governed no longer control the government but rather the government controls the people. You can learn more about Kaye Beach’s lawsuit by visiting the Constitutional Alliance’s web-site which was provided earlier. Supporting Kaye Beach is what we each can and must do to preserve our freedom.

God Bless, these United States of America