Published 2011-02-02T12:40:00Z”/>
J.W. Burch, IV
<strong>Dear Rep. Wally Herger:</strong>
The following is a letter of condemnation and concern.
I write in regards to the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace bill, in which Internet users would be forced to have an identification tag to track their activity online and “protect” them.
Although I doubt you will personally read this – at best, your secretary may glance over it and throw it in the recycling bin while giving you the CliffsNotes – this is quite simply an issue that I cannot remain silent about.
Despite not being a part of your constituency in nearly any conceivable way, I am left with no other choice but to address this plea for common sense to you, my representative.
<strong>The Good</strong>
I love this country and am very grateful for having been born here. America is a grand and wonderful nation, which had insurmountable potential. It could have been a utopia, a paradise, a perfect state of existence.
Our founding fathers envisioned a nation that was liberated from the oppression of tyrannical governments – a nation in which the citizens didn’t have to live in fear of those who rule over them.
It is something that seems to have slipped out of the masses’ psyche over the centuries, bringing us to our current state of affairs.
<strong>The Bad</strong>
People stopped paying attention and began paying mortgages, medical bills, taxes and student loans. Then there were the utilities, the cable, the phone and credit card bills. Life insurance, health insurance, car insurance.
People grew docile, impressionable and eventually apathetic. They quit asking hard questions of their leaders and learned to accept that “all politicians are liars” and “voting is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.”
The NSTIC threatens to rob citizens of any notion of freedom that remains.
Lauding itself as a way to protect us lowly, ignorant fools from the villains of the Net, this proposal has frightening implications of censorship and fascist behavior.
<strong>The Ugly</strong>
Politics is a filthy and vile, yet necessary, profession in line with the likes of morticians, lawyers and stockbrokers.
If this bill is allowed to pass, I don’t trust that it will remain as placid of a proposal as it is in its current state.
Voluntary will change to mandatory, “for our safety.” The private sector will cooperate with releasing information to the government, and the Internet will become completely government-operated.
It only takes one match to start a fire – the USA PATRIOT Act is proof of that.
Have you ever read “1984,” congressman? How about Revelation? Chapter 13, Verse 17? “… And that no one may buy or sell, save he that had the mark …”
The fact of the matter is that you can’t possibly expect to cage a beast such as the Internet. Have you seen the Internet recently, congressman? It’s omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient.
God’s new name is Google. Jeeves is a false prophet.
Besides, the whole thing is plagued with ads, banners, pop-ups, deceiving links, eye-catching pitches and never-ending bombardments from all directions leading you down paths you would never otherwise go.
One minute you’re watching an attractive 20-something make sweet, sweet love to a horse and then you’re suddenly redirected to an infidelity dating site.
As if an appreciation for interspecies intimacy is related with adultery.
But I digress.
The bottom line is, in my younger and more foolish years, I believed that everyone strove for the greater good, but as I’ve matured and gained more experience, it has become apparent that the vast majority of politicians are greedy prostitutes.
No matter what party they label themselves, most are selling the soul of this country for a little more power.
I hope that you are not a prostitute, congressman.
Sincerely,
J. W. Burch, IV
Post-dated Feb. 2, 2011
J. W. Burch, IV can be contacted at
