As a permanent resident with a pending citizenship application (who came on the visa mentioned at the end of this article), I find this incredibly alarming. I have nothing to hide, despise terrorism and the fanatics that commit it, and wish no harm on others with different social, political, or religious views. But I'm familiar enough with history to know how badly this can end. "Papers please" had consequences, espe…
You should slap it around a bit, so that it stops believing in those intrinsic, unsupported assumptions. Not like a literal concussion type of slap--slap it with a hit of salvia divinorum or a provocative essay or introspective meditation or something.
Everyone has something to hide. It doesn't even have to be anything particularly shameful. You could have the most glorious junk in the history of humanity, but you still cover it up with some form of garment when you leave the house. You could have a perfectly ordinary and treatable rash on your backside, but you don't necessarily tell anyone about it outside your doctor's office. You might be going on an awesome vacation for three weeks, but you might not want the local housebreaking crew to know that.
It can happen here, as it can happen anywhere that humans come together. This is beyond tolerable, and as we are a civilized people, we have a graduated response to such behavior.
First, we publicly announce our opposition to this policy, in the hopes that a reasoned debate will cause it to be abandoned. This is the "soap box". Second, we inform our designated representatives that this is an important issue, and should they wish to continue to hold our proxy, they will vote in accordance with the wishes of their constituents. Should they do otherwise, we do our best to replace them with someone who will. This is the "ballot box". Third, we tangle it up with formal legal challenges, requiring that the policy be measured against existing legal standards. We sit on grand juries to indict or no-bill those suspected of breaking our laws, and upon petit juries to convict or not-convict those who faced trial. This is the "jury box". Finally, we can take our tools, fashion them into weapons, and physically assault those who have already failed to yield to reason, ignored those whom they purport to represent, and scoffed at the law. This is the "ammo box"--ultima ratio regum.
It can happen here. It is always happening everywhere, and here is no exception. We must constantly work at preventing it. That is the burden of democracy. Everywhere it has happened, it was because the momentum overwhelmed the resistance, and because those graduated responses were removed Alvin York style--from back to front, so that the opposition wouldn't notice until it was too late. You can't forget that when reason fails--and it does fail against the unreasonable--you have to be prepared to instead use rhetoric, tradition, or raw force to get what you want.