Conditioning the citizenry

I've long held that TSA airport screening is more effective at cowing citizens to being treated like a herd of subjects than it is preventing terrorism. At times it's like guarding the front door while leaving the back ones unlocked.

It seems this process of getting people used to showing "your papers, please" is now hitting the streets of America as well, starting, appropriately enough, in Mordor the capital itself:

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.

Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away. ((next step: travel papers to authorize movement between areas... -- Jemison))

"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."

But they're not going to get so tough as to make the program effective, mind you:

The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.

The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.

"I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large).

This is more a random show of force by the ruling power than a sober, serious effort to curb crime. That describes too much of the 'justice system' today.

And so the conditioning continues. Just as people today can't conceive of life without cradle-to-grave federal welfare (which didn't exist the first 150+ years of our history), our children and grandchildren may have no concept of a society without invasive monitoring and checkpoints for the guilty and innocent alike.