As Sir Edmond Burke once observed, this country’s founders were always ready to “snuff out the approach of tyranny with every tainted brief.” And yet, it seems we are now resigned to live subject to the vast, multi-layered, and robust surveillance infrastructure that is the envy of every totalitarian regime? We can no longer trust the companies that build and manage our internet infrastructure, the companies that create and sell us our hardware and software, or the companies that host our data. And, our integrity challenged government is hell-bent on betraying every trust.
Now, more than ever, we need ethical stewards. It is time to purge those executive, legislative, and judicial bodies that have become infested with the kind of self-serving parasites that can only thrive in the decay products of democracy. Since our constitution has apparently been reconstituted by these “representatives” to serve as their own bureaucratic toilet paper, I think we should respond by recommissioning the old style, mechanical voting machines. Sure, the paper based audit trail has clear value. But the imagery, the ability to pull the handle and flush, now that’s priceless! — Robert H. Kalk
