Can we really trust the people we elect to represent us? I wrote about this earlier today in Government Spending.
Reading the news just now, I came upon another example where I’m somewhat stunned.
Flock
This is from Boston 25 news. Read the story here.
Wait, What?
Read that headline again. Why does the city of Cambridge have license plate readers? And how does this improve safety?
The article says:
Again, think this through. Cambridge wanted to install license plate readers to track who is driving around its streets – who are they, where are they going, how long did they stay? The city of Cambridge wants this data.
And Now
They are concerned about data privacy.
Good for them. They should be concerned. What if a criminal got hold of this info.
But their concern is the federal government getting hold of the data.
Wrap Up
This totally blows my mind.
First, it sounds like no one in Cambridge read the contracts before they signed – and there is no information about how much they’ve spent on a system that is now shut down indefinitely (and what else is shut down indefinitely – we have a problem)
Next up, why do we feel good about the city government in Cambridge tracking us but we are horrified that the federal government will get access to this data?
Unfortunately I know the answer. Cambridge is a wealthy democratic enclave outside of Boston. With a Republican that, by all reports, they don’t particularly care for in office in Washington, they don’t want their private personal data used to enforce Republican initiatives – it should only be used to enforce democratic initiatives.
People forget that we have elections every 4 years. Things change. Now that’s not entirely true in Cambridge, Boston and Massachusetts. We’re largely blue.
But think back. The Biden administration and its co-conspirators at Facebook and Twitter thought it was a smashing idea for the government to have a tool that would allow them to adjust what we would see on our feeds and in search results.
Would they still be happy about this when a Republican took office and had their hands on the switch?
It goes both ways. Today, troops are being deployed by the federal government to US cities. This hasn’t happened often in the past and the legality is in question.
But will those same people who support this today feel the same way in 3 years when President AOC sends troops to round up climate change deniers?
I’m joking – will she really be our next president? Would she use troops to enforce her green new deal?
But as I said earlier, we are pawns in a huge power play that is going on in Washington and in our state and city government. It just doesn’t seem to me like our elected officials are working in our best interests.