That's Not the Purpose..................Yet!

Beware the dreams of tyrants.

Recent movements by the Biden administration would move our economy from paper cash to all digital money. This would give government the ability to see every dollar we spent on anything at all. It would provide a means to track where we buy gas, where we buy food, what sort of entertainment we purchase, where we go on public transportation or even give the feds power to clean out our bank accounts altogether; in other words it would give government power over everyone's ability to buy and sell. That sounds eerily like something I read about in Revelation. But the kindly progressives, so concerned about our collective welfare, argue that the purpose of digitizing all money in the U.S. is not to control all these things...........at least not for now!

They claim it's not about restricting movement of Americans, for instance. At least not for now. But I can tell you from personal experience, I've sat in meetings in DC with progressives 20 years ago in which they fantasized about that very thing. The tracking technology that's possible with the digital ID does make that possible, whether they promise it won't or not. It's one of those deals where, "we have to pass the bill in order to find out what's in it."

The promoters of this level of government security, control and monitoring assure us that the whole idea is benign. You can trust us. We're the party of the people. Boy that ought to send a shiver up your spine. Just check out all the People's Republics in the world that are neither republics nor are for the benefit of the people. If you see the words People's, Democratic, or Republic in the name of a newly reorganized nation, count on that nation being a tyranny. Digital currency, digital ID and this sort of technology is a gateway to an all-powerful oppressive rule by a small group of tyrants. Bet on it.

Progressives two decades ago were dreaming about $10 a gallon gas (back when ten bucks was worth half what it is now). The idea was to "encourage" (here read "force") people to give up their cars and use public transportation by making it impossible for ordinary schlubs to own and operate a personal vehicle. They didn't have the capacity to create digital IDs back then, so they figured we'd all have to buy transit passes that could log our travel on some central computer every time we swiped one to get on and off trains or buses. One of the advantages they said was that law enforcement could more easily track "criminals". So what is the current definition of a "criminal". More to the point, what will that definition be tomorrow?

Back then, they dreamed of walled cities, not to keep people out, but to keep people inside; to keep them from spoiling "nature". The idea was you'd have to get permission from some government entity to visit nature outside the city walls. I was there at the symposium on transportation. I'm not making this up at all. It really creeped me out, especially seeing the gleam in the eyes of my progressive colleagues at the very idea of all that central monitoring. President Bush was in office at the time and one of the attendees suggested a motion to ban barbecue restaurants in Washington DC because so many had opened up since a Republican from Texas had come to occupy the White House. I'm not kidding. When they found out I was from Texas, conservative, and a male to boot, a bunch of angry feminists ganged up on me to tell me how awful I must be. The whole thing about forcing people to use public transportation exclusively was clearly driven by Marxist ideology. It is a control/monitoring tool they need to make old Karl's dream come true.

Digital technology is now capable of achieving that progressive pipe dream. Digital IDs and Digital currency gives the government the ability to strictly determine where you go, what you can buy, what you can sell and what you can do. That may not be the intent right now, but what about 10 years from now? Do we really want to create tools that provide government that sort of power? 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a technology Luddite. I love my computer and the Internet. They are tools that allow me to exercise a great deal of freedom. That is, until government creates digital controls over the whole thing and digitizing our money would do just that. 

It wouldn't be the first time a plowshare was fashioned into a sword.

• Frank Herbert, author of Dune, once wrote, "It's not so much that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's that power attracts the corruptible."
  

Given the level of corruption in government these days, do we really want to hand them a stick to beat us into submission with, even if they promise not to use it............for now?

© 2023 by Tom King