Are Your Papers in Order?

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:09:37 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Thomas L. Knapp at Center for a Stateless Society - commentary on the new passport requirements at the United States borders with Canada and Mexico.

There was a time -- in living memory, even -- when the roadblock, the vehicle or personal search, and the demand for "your papers, please" were the height of Cold War cliche. If you saw them on a film screen or read them in a potboiler novel, and you knew the protagonists were traveling in Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, or a troubled, war-torn Third World dictatorship.

...

Borders, in other words, are not created to benefit you. Precisely the opposite: They're created to observe and control your movements, to milk your bank accounts, and to psychologically reinforce the claim that you are, for all practical purposes, the property of "your" government.

Add comment Edit post Add post