On another forum I frequent, the question was asked about fingerprinting children as a form of ID to speed up the lunch line.

I’m going to leave you with your thoughts on that, while I take a few steps back.

When I was in high school, we read the standard dystopian novels. Orwell’s “1984” and Huxleys “Brave New World” were required reading, especially among the G/T set, which is where I spent much of my academic career. It was years ago when Ritalin and Prozac became almost mandatory for anyone deviating from the norm, that the soma of Huxley’s world came to mind. Take away their emotions and you stand a good chance of controlling the masses.

But now, we live in a world where if you DON’T agree to fingerprinting, warrantless searches (in the form of home visits from social workers and schoolteachers), RFID, and mandatory doctor visits, you are automatically suspect. You are accused of having something to hide by a public that is somehow unable to comprehend the concept of having something to PROTECT.

Our government was established under the precept that we NOT live under strict government control. Now we live in a nation where many are quick to insist that we DO. Somehow, if the government controls things, we think that everything will be allright.

I have never understood the irrational logic of those who trust a government that is unable to maintain its roads and bridges to manage their personal life. When the government fails to maintain a bridge in Minnesota, the bridge collapses. The casualties are tragic, to be sure, but not as tragic as when the government fails a whole generation of people entrusted to its care.

I have long contended that we are about to suffer a consequences of a nation that has “lived under the levee” for too long. The consequences may come later rather than sooner, but is that a legacy we want to give future generations.

We’ve lived too long under the government we deserve. It’s time to insist on the government our GRANDCHILDREN deserve.