you know, there is one real benefit from the national id card (passed through the back door of the intelligence reform and terrorism prevention act of 2004) that even its supporters are ignoring

see, they'll go into how it will protect us from terrorists (nevermind that the "hijackers" of "9/11" didn't rely on false identification. they will, of course, mention that american citizens (making sure to point notable examples like john walker lindh and richard reid) sometimes act against the interests of the homeland, but only in passing, as if it were some arbitrary aberration. we all love the homeland, of course, and we should be proud to hold onto our national id card and have our dna and fingerprints on file, and to have electronic tracking chips in our pockets (or under our skin, like they already do with some pets)

what do we have to fear anyway, as long as we don't break any laws, right? i mean, it's not like republicans target innocent people for intimidation or vote challenging or unnecessary and illegal imprisonment, right? it's not like those in power, when given more and more power, won't use it wisely at all times and never abuse any of it, never build any secret prison camps, never authorize the torture of anyone deemed to stand against the homeland until that person bothers to confess to some crime, only to ensure more torture and more unlawful imprisonment

we should all be following all the laws, anyway, of course. we should all be living our lives to the exacting standards of our nation's christian morality, living our lives by the standards of the god in which we trust. and, any who dare live any other way--well, those pinko atheist socialist fags need not apply for any national id card anyway, cause we can identify them by the numbers we tattoo on their arms in the internment camps, by the cell in which we put them in between torture sessions

of course, who am i calling "we?" afterall, this little diatribe alone would likely put me on the government hitlist a few years into the future. all it's going to take is a tiny technological advance in our surveillance, and a baby step into the arena of big brother and the antichrist's reign here on earth. too bad it's the religious Right, those most likely to believe in the antichrist, who are harbouring him as their great leader in the crusade on terror, while we atheists don't even get to argue cause we can't stand behind even the intelligent design theory attempt to believe in god without bothering with church (and isn't that just the american way?)

shall we all fall in line and bow down now? or, do we wait out each little change, each passing bill that infringes our rights just a little more, or shall we hold onto the ideal that, whether or not it might be nice if we were all law abiding citizens, it might someday come to a point where each and every one of us could face a law we won't like, and isn't the whole point of free will that we have laws and choose to follow them because it is the right thing to do and not because we will be punished... oh wait, that way of thinking went the way of the dodo and that christ fella, tortured and killed on the cross, didn't it?

and, what happens when our blogs are linked to our dna, when all anonymity goes out the door and only the loudest get to not only rule but even have any say at all? what will constitute traitorous acts against the homeland in a future where our every movement and our every word can be recorded and tracked?

where can our mayflower go? or, is it possible to change this "homeland" of ours for the better, to break the system even while remaining inside it?