Re: Britain: A Bunch of Sheep-like Mice. What happened to the Bulldog?
"Britain is effectively a police state." It's not and is never likely to be.
What we do have is a growing move in the direction of a bureaucratic dictatorship, which is much more dangerous.
A police state is a visible phenomenon that controls by systematically breaking down social cohesion via intimidation and reliance on informers (e.g. "1984" and the late East Germany).
A bureaucratic dictatorship is a hidden phenomenon that acts in ostensibly benign ways to undermine the independence of individuals by the gradual accumulation of measures that are publicly declared and appear in isolation to be entirely reasonable.
But it's not a new problem:
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ... The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home..If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be under the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."*
* James Madison, President of the United States 1809-1817
Biting the hand that feeds IT
