Getting a proper perspective on this needs a thought experiment, conducted by a suitably competent body of people, on what the Stasi could (and undoubtedly would) have done with this data had they had access to it.
I suspect that if we had that body's report we would all be behaving very differently.
If Google and FB were headquartered in Russia, Putin would probably have 'nationalised' them already. I'm pretty sure Trump would see nothing wrong with sidelining the legislature either if he thought he could get away with it. Even our own prime minister has shown that he isn't completely above the idea.
When it happens, no doubt dressed up in the stars & stripes or the Union jack, and 'saving' the country from the evils of abortion and gay marriage, or the wrong coloured people or communism, it will be far too late to worry. When I hear "taking back control" I shudder.
This probably counts as invoking Goodwin, but I recommend viewing the BBC's "Rise of the Nazis" which relates the means by which Germany became a totalitarian state despite having a system of government not very unlike our own, with the legislature having supremacy, and separation of the judiciary.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00084tb/rise-of-the-nazis-series-1-1-politics
It's a bit long-winded but quite detailed, with contributions from various historians.
In the UK, the executive can now suspend (albeit temporarily) the rule of law in a national emergency. Given recent events, I bet it has at least occurred to Bozo's advisers that they could probably create such an emergency.
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 19 Sep 19 at 10:11
|
