People in China have much greater concerns. The Chinese government is in the process of instituting a "social credit" score on every person in its enormous 1.4 billion population in order to monitor their behavior.
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| Credit: luminous-landscape.com |
This is how Business Insider describes the ranking system which is due to being fully operational by 2020. It is already being piloted for millions of people in China right now.
The "social credit system," first announced in 2014, aims to reinforce the idea that "keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful," according to a government document.
Like private credit scores, a person's social score can move up and down depending on their behaviour. The exact methodology is a secret — but examples of infractions include bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, buying too many video games and posting fake news online.
China is using 176 million surveillance cameras it has installed to support the "social credit" system with plans to increase that to 660 million cameras by 2020. Drivers who don't stop at crosswalks and jaywalkers risk losing points.
It is believed that saying positive things about the government, community service and purchasing Chinese-made products can boost your score.
What happens if you get a low score? Here are a few of the "penalties".
- Banning you from getting on an airplane or train to travel
- Throttling your internet speeds
- Banning you or your children from attending the best schools
- Preventing you from getting the best jobs
- Banning you from owning property
- Keeping you out of the best hotels
- Being publicly named as a "bad citizen"
According to CBS News, 11 million Chinese are already banned from flying and 4 million cannot travel by train due to low scores.
What are the benefits of a higher score? For starters, you can continue to travel, browse the internet, get your kids into the best schools and own property. You might also get your name on the "good citizen" list.
Those with higher point totals who are considered "trustworthy" may also get discounts on their energy bills, better interest rates or get their profile boosted on China's largest online dating site. You might laugh at that last one but when you are one of 37 million excess males in China under the age of 30 you will probably pay more attention to your "social credit" score with that in mind.
Those of us in the United States undoubtedly look at all of this with horror.
It should be a sober reminder of how fortunate we are to enjoy the freedoms that we do.
However, in some respects, we are not as far removed from where the Chinese are as you might think.
Look no further than what is going on in the United States of America today. Here are a few examples that have recently been in the news.
Shania Twain stated in a recent interview that she would have voted for Donald Trump if she was an American citizen (she is Canadian) and quickly became engulfed in an avalanche of criticism on social media. She subsequently apologized. Why?
Did anything similar occur if someone stated they voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders?
Kanye West said some nice things about a conservative black woman and Donald Trump. Another backlash ensues. Kanye did not back down and even doubled down with this tweet.
A New York City judge ruled that bars are allowed to refuse to serve Trump supporters. However, Christian bakers are not allowed to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding?
Conservative talk show hosts routinely have had their advertisers attacked in an attempt to keep them off the air. The latest was Laura Ingraham.
We also see conservative speakers on college campuses shouted down to such an extent that universities refuse to even allow them to speak on campus citing security concerns.
The Liberal Left and the Progressive Media believe that they know exactly how people should think and act. If you do not adhere to "their standards" you are a reprobate, a racist or a fascist.
Of course, the fundamental basis of a liberal, socialist or progressive ideology is that government does know best. Individual freedoms must be sacrificed for the greater good.
However, the United States of America was founded by men who were deeply suspicious of government power. They had experienced government oppression and overreach first-hand. The Constitution they wrote was intended to protect the governed, not the government. They even included a Bill of Rights to protect what they considered the most important individual rights and freedoms---speech, assembly, religion, the right to bear arms and the right to a trial of their peers.
Why do liberals complain about the constraints of the Constitution and argue that it should be interpreted as a "living document" that should interpreted based on the contemporary moral, political and cultural climate?
A big reason is that the Constitution favors individual freedoms over government power. Quite simply, the basic framework of the document is inimical to the interests of progressive, liberal ideology that seeks to increase government power and control.
We would all like to think that what is going on in China could never happen to us. However, you should never feel content or safe when talking about your freedom. What would happen with an extended period in which liberal Democrats control the Presidency and Congress? What does the Bill of Rights really mean to them? Is the Bill of Rights also subject to the contemporary political climate?
It is not a mystery as to what the Democrats believe on these issues. We see it every day in examples like those I cited above.
There is abundant evidence of what their "social credit" scoring system might look like. I write the following somewhat "tongue in cheek" but, at the same time, we know that all of these are on the Liberal Left's list of what they see as deplorable behaviors.
Social Credit Scorecard (Points Subtracted)
-20 Voted for Trump
-10 Watch Fox News
-10 Believe that judges should interpret the law rather than legislate from the bench
-10 Own a gun
-10 Support traditional marriage
-10 Support voter id laws
-10 Believe that current immigration law should be enforced
-10 Believe in the words "In God We Trust"
-5 Believe you pay too much in taxes
-5 Eat at Chick-fil-A
On that scoring system, I would start out in the hole 100 points.
The Liberal Left likes to condemn, castigate, demean and delegitimize those that they disagree with. That is not consistent with the founding principles of the United States of America. It may be acceptable in Communist China. Let's hope it is never acceptable here.
God Bless our Founding Fathers.
God Bless our Constitution.
God Bless The United States of America.
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