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The deadline of yet another, and perhaps the most insidious, element of the post-9/11 initiatives (a partial list of which includes the establishment of the Transportation Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and a never-ending international war against a nebulously-defined, noncorporeal enemy, "terror") is less than one year from coming to fruition. Beginning no later than October 1, 2020, citizens of all US states and territories will be required to have a Real ID compliant card or US passport to board a commercial plane or enter a Federal government facility. Pundits citing the inevitability of what amounts to a national ID card have, regrettably, been vindicated.
https://www.aier.org/article/while-you-slept-government-created-internal-passports/
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday November 06 2019, @07:08AM (5 children)
You wouldn't get the same results with the same system in the USA, or in AU for that matter.
While I would love to import the cultural properties that help Norway here, I still wouldn't want to import their system.
Having all the people counted and registered and collated and prepared for the government makes things a little more efficient, when the government is good. When it goes bad? Either domestic tyranny, or an invasion, or a 'color revolution' and boom all that information is now in the wrong hands.
In this day and age, it's likely the russian mob already has it for sale.
A little inefficiency is a price worth paying to avoid that.
But, in our context in the USA, I don't think it's even a trade off. The current system is more than sufficient. There is no legitimate reason to 'upgrade' it - but many nefarious ones.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday November 06 2019, @02:39PM (4 children)
Interestingly, Norway is number 6 in military spending per capita which makes it number two right after the US if we discount crazy governments. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-who-spend-the-most-on-military-per-capita.html [worldatlas.com]
Does liberal correlates with militarized?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday November 06 2019, @05:45PM (3 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday November 06 2019, @10:53PM (2 children)
I seriously doubt they can resist such powers with any level of military. If they do take it seriously, they should have develop and deploy nuclear weapons. Therefore I suspect they use the power to keep the population in check. Not directly, mind you, but by using propaganda: "join the army or else" type.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 06 2019, @11:35PM
You would probably be surprised if you read about the Winter War - Finland fought off Russia (and GB, but I think the other Allied left them alone). It's not impossible.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday November 07 2019, @05:12AM
The point is not to make it utterly impossible to be conquered, of course. They're quite aware they can't do that. They've been conquered many times - most recently by Germany in WWII.
The point is to make sure that any invasion will cost more than it is worth. It's deterrence.
And since they joined NATO, that's another level to it as well. They assume that NATO would come to their defense - but not that their allies are permanently on standby ready to scramble at a moments notice. So in the case of invasion, they'd be hoping they only need to hold out a relatively short time before allies start showing up.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?