{"id":494,"date":"2005-05-11T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2005-05-12T01:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/?p=494"},"modified":"2009-06-11T18:21:06","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T22:21:06","slug":"goodbye-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/05\/11\/goodbye-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, America"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s almost 10pm and I’m up at the computer, in the dark, because I’m too angry to sleep. I mean, I’m really<\/span> angry here. Are my words falling on deaf ears? Are the people of this country just going to roll over and accept this transgression? Accept the continued loss of liberties – liberties that we used to pride ourselves on?<\/p>\n

What really gets me is that in 3 years, when the REAL ID act goes into effect, I’m going to have to go down to the DMV and prove<\/span> that I’m a US citizen. I’m going to have to take my birth certificate, and probably my passport, and prove to some little dipshit behind a counter that I am in fact a citizen of the United State of America – because their not going to believe me otherwise. It’s not enough that I was born here and have lived here all my life. And if I can’t<\/span> prove that I’m a citizen, or if I choose not to sign up for this ridiculous ID – well, then I can just kiss my life goodbye. Want to get on a plane? NOPE! <\/span>How about a train? NOPE!<\/span> Can’t even drive anywhere, because my “REAL ID” is also my driver’s license. SORRY!<\/span> How about opening a new bank account? NOT A CHANCE!<\/span> And before you know it, it’ll be the same story with just about everything – utilities, cell phones, buying a car, getting a credit card, you name it – they’ll ask for your “REAL ID.” And woe be to you if you don’t agree with it.<\/p>\n

I mean, okay, so you say we gotta fight terrorists? Okay. We gotta go to war with a dictatorship? Fair enough. We need to tightly regulate immigration into the country? Sounds fine. But this is NONE OF THE ABOVE… this is regulating normal, law-abiding, non-terrorist AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!<\/p>\n

WAR IS PEACE
\nFREEDOM IS SLAVERY
\nIGNORANCE IS STRENGTH<\/span><\/p>\n

We might as well make that <\/span>the fucking motto of this country, because that’s where we’re headed – and we’re headed there fast. If you’re under 50 and you’re reading this, it’s going to happen in your lifetime. “REAL ID” my ass! This has got to stop! We’ve got<\/span> to stop giving up liberties because of fear! This has to stop! <\/span><\/p>\n

If you have kids, or are planning on having kids, think of the world they are going to grow up in. They are never going to know what ‘freedom’ really is. All they are going to know is that they can be stopped at any time and asked to show their “id,” and if they don’t have it, they can be put in jail or exported from the country – because if you don’t have an ID, you must not be a citizen – now that’s logic! Think back, people – think back to your youth. It wasn’t always like this, and it doesn’t have to be like this in the future! Stop electing the same fuckwads to congress & the house again and again! Use the power of your vote, and your voice, to put a stop to this madness! Do you really want this country to become a police state? Have the terrorist really won? Have they scared us so much that we’re willing to give up every ideal that we hold dear – the same ideals that we used to boast about when we said that their (the terrorists’) countries were dictatorships?<\/p>\n

And what really burns me, what really gets my blood pumping, is the fact that this bill passed the senate UNANIMOUSLY. 100 for, none against – not even an abstention! Like sheep lining up for the slaughter, every fucking senator voted for this abhorrent legislation. Not ONE of them deserves to be called a senator, and they sure as hell don’t deserve to be re-elected.<\/p>\n

Senate elections will be coming up soon, when YOU can vote your senator out of congress – along with your representatives, too. I don’t care who else gets in there, but if it can be someone new, someone with some fucking BACKBONE, someone who is willing to stand up for what they believe in, instead of just following the party line, doing what’s “safe” for their political career, then it’ll be infinitely better than who’s in congress now. When I<\/span> vote, I don’t care who else is on the ballot – they’ll get my vote if they’re neither democrat nor republican. I don’t even care if they are a fucking anarchist<\/span> – I’ll vote for them. At least I know an anarchist would never pass something like “REAL ID.”<\/p>\n

Dear God, I hope I wake up one day and find out this was all some bad dream. Please, please, please<\/span> – people, wake up, stop being sheep, and DO SOMETHING!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goodbye, America – Hello, REAL ID. Welcome to a world where you have to PROVE your citizenship… again… and again… and again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[65,26],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-rants","tag-real-id","tag-security","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-7Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/05\/13\/real-id-summary\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":0},"title":"Real ID Summary","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Because most people are too lazy to read the bill itself, (and frankly, it's filled with so much legalese that most people can't understand it) here's an honest, unbiased breakdown of the bill's ID-relevant sections.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":661,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/10\/13\/schneier-on-security-domestic-spying-in-the-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":1},"title":"Domestic Spying in the U.S.","author":"Keith Survell","date":"October 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Could someone explain to me why more surveillance of U.S. Citizens seems to be necessary? Isn't a foreign enemy by definition not a citizen?","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3107,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2010\/06\/03\/citizen-surveillance\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":2},"title":"Citizen Surveillance","author":"Keith Survell","date":"June 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Thoughtful comments on the idea of citizens keeping tabs on their police & government, instead of only the other way around.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":497,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/05\/10\/real-id-act-status\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":3},"title":"REAL ID Act Status","author":"Keith Survell","date":"May 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Aww crap, it passed. Seriously, folks, this has got to stop. If things keep going like this, we're either going to loose all personal liberties, or there's going to be a revolution.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":268,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/10\/08\/enemy-combatants-and-the-war-on-terror\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":4},"title":"“Enemy Combatants” and “The War on Terror”","author":"Keith Survell","date":"October 8, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been conflicted over the idea of the President of the United States being able to declare a U.S. Citizen an \"enemy combatant\" and hold him\/her without the \"Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.\" It bothered me so much that I decided to look into it myself.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":652,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2005\/09\/26\/schneier-on-security-man-arrested-for-being-a-computer-nerd\/","url_meta":{"origin":494,"position":5},"title":"Schneier on Security: Man Arrested for Being A Computer Nerd","author":"Keith Survell","date":"September 26, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Bruce Schneier links to another chilling story of security gone too far.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}