A brief post with a suggestion for some further reading.

I found a very interesting article here at The Burning Platform which contained the following quote :

This country has not reached the level of control and fear seen in Orwell’s 1984 and V For Vendetta, yet. We are moving relentlessly in that direction. Surveillance, monitoring, spying, censorship, secret prisons, predator drones, and conforming to state rules and regulations put citizens further under the thumb of an all powerful state. The freedom to dissent, the freedom to be left alone, the freedom to speak out against injustice, the freedom to disagree with your government, and the freedom to present your ideas without fear of retribution or penalty are essential in a democratic society.

Whilst that seems to apply almost exactly to the current situation in the UK (if you swap drones for police helicopters looking for a warm roof and another door to smash down), it is actually about the USA.

The article itself compares what is happening to US politics with a book/film from a few years ago called V for Vendetta – a modern day rerun of November 5th 1605.

Interestingly. the book’s cover appears to be one of Old Holborn’s election posters :

Well worth having a read in full, especially for the short history of political violence in the USA.

If that is not enough, there is also one of my favourite quote which ought to be branded on to every single MP the moment they take office to remind them exactly who they serve :

Those who would give up Essential Liberty
to purchase a little Temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

– Ben Franklin