Elections can't fix the "fundamental transformation" of the United States

[olde north church]

In the Age of the Drone and the Ubiquitous Camera, it's becoming increasingly difficult to evade the all-seeing eye of the State. We are also approaching a time when everything not forbidden is compulsory, as the America many of us once knew recedes ever faster in the rear-view mirror.

true enough, but the costs of successfully getting around it are so high that most people simply won't be able to put up with the dent it puts in their ordinary lives, so they'll simply surrender to it, put on their government-approved rose-colored glasses and tell themselves that it doesn't matter and anyways it doesn't exist.  A little like the restaurant scene in the movie Brazil where the diners all stare at cards showing pictures of what they're supposed to be eating, while what they're actually eating bears little resemblance to those pictures.

What was the difference between the Soviet state, the East German state and the Nazi state though?  Regimentation was part of the Soviet and German DNA as opposed to the American mentality.  We are still the country of outlaws on some level.  Even with attempts to teach kids to inform, Americans do not snitch.  That is the Achille's heel.

[Scottftlc]

What was the difference between the Soviet state, the East German state and the Nazi state though?  Regimentation was part of the Soviet and German DNA as opposed to the American mentality.  We are still the country of outlaws on some level.  Even with attempts to teach kids to inform, Americans do not snitch.  That is the Achille's heel.

When you are always on camera, and your devices are always connected to the grid, eyes in the sky and sensors of various kinds in all trafficked areas...there really isn't much need for snitching any more.

[katzenjammer]

Just to chime in, albeit a bit late, on the original premise of the thread.

I think that there are a few fundamental factors at play that provide an "answer" to the question of whether or not elections can/will fix this mess:

1.  Free and Open Elections: do we still have them, or not??  (How widespread is election fraud and will it ever be stopped, or at least reduced?)
2.  Candidates running that will actually do something to halt the decline and attempt to restore the Republic.  (Without a significant number of these candidates, there is really nothing that voting can ever accomplish.)
3.  The willingness of people to actually turn out and vote in both primary and general elections, at all levels from local up to national.  I believe that turnout for 2012 was estimated to be somewhere around 57%, lower than both 2004 & 2008.  That's a lot of people that aren't voting, and the percentages are typically lower for the midterms and other "lessor" elections.

[olde north church]

When you are always on camera, and your devices are always connected to the grid, eyes in the sky and sensors of various kinds in all trafficked areas...there really isn't much need for snitching any more.

But how much is self-requested?  Cell phones, immediately come to mind.  New cars with black boxes and quick pay tolls devices, also.  Living in certain cities as opposed to others or living in the city at all.

[Scottftlc]

But how much is self-requested?  Cell phones, immediately come to mind.  New cars with black boxes and quick pay tolls devices, also.  Living in certain cities as opposed to others or living in the city at all.

Much of it is necessary if you are going to earn a living anywhere on "the grid".  Survivalists could certainly avoid it but those are few and far between and would never be numerous represent a threat to the standing order. 

[DCPatriot]

DHS or NSA or GFY announced today that they've decided that they will not eavesdrop on Twitter in real time.


.....uh-huh......