There is nothing as quintessentially American as the automobile (with apologies to Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz). Route 66. Carefree Highway. The long and winding road. Riding the storm out. Roadside attractions. Motor lodges. National parks. Heading to the cabin. Station wagon, kids in back. Thunderbird, Mustang, Corvette. Free as you’ll ever be.
When you are driving, you are in control-- and
you decide when and where to go. You are autonomous, anonymous, and the captain
of your soul, whether in New York City, at Mount Rushmore, or along the
California coast.
As early as next year, that will no longer be
true. Starting in 2027, new vehicles
will be required to be equipped with passive monitoring systems to assess driver’s behavior. An algorithm will determine if
the driver is too impaired to operate the vehicle. If so, the vehicle will
either be disabled, or some other entity will take control of it. If the
vehicle is a Chinese built electric vehicle, your every breath, move,
heartbeat, and utterance will be monitored and recorded. Chinese EVs will have the capability to send data, pictures, and all other forms
of information back to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). American built cars
will be scarcely less intrusive. What could go wrong?
Sen. Bernie Moreno,
R-Ohio, says that these vehicles essentially function as "little Trojan
horses" because of the amount of information they can collect and
transmit. And who will examine what is to be transmitted? The Chinese Communist
Party in some cases. Perhaps Dr. Fauci? The Squad? Picture what could happen if
a Gavin Newsom or AOC administration ascended to power after 2028. You might
not want to talk about politics in your car. Or economic theory. Or history.
And don’t wear that MAGA hat or Browning shirt. Might want to remove the “This
vehicle is protected by Smith & Wesson” bumper sticker, too. Heading to
Mount Rushmore or a Jason Aldean concert? Might want to reconsider. In the
backseat of your car at one of the few remaining drive-in theaters? Who is that
with you and what are you doing?
We all want to alleviate
drunk driving. We are all for safer highways. But, as in so many areas, we keep
making bad trade-offs, almost as if sleepwalking. The Founders knew that those
who value security over liberty will soon have neither. As automobiles become more autonomous, human beings will become ever less so. A sad irony, indeed.
The
Days of Our Innocence are long gone. Of course, in one sense, there has never
been a time of innocence. People have always engaged in a vast panoply of
sinful (and dangerous) behavior. But, in another very real sense, one that many
of us can feel in our souls, we have crossed a Rubicon that can never be
re-crossed. A point of no return. I myself grew up when manners and etiquette
were taught in schools, Father Knows Best was on television, and virtually
everybody knew—and was thankful for—the difference between men and women. We
took off on our bicycles after lunch and were simply told to be back for
dinner. There were no cell phones. Cameras didn’t record our every movement.
People paid with cash, their purchases were not recorded and analyzed. Social
media didn’t attempt to taunt, diminish, and divide us. Other than a TV with
3-5 channels, we didn’t sit and stare at a screen all day…or ever. We stared at
green grass, dandelions, a lake, or the sky. And we stopped to think, to
ponder, to wonder. To just be. And ponder the wonder and glory of that.
The big screen, God’s screen, never tried to taunt, diminish, or divide
us. It inspired us, awed us, and comforted us in time of sorrow or need.
The Founders knew what mattered. They knew the
truth. A person can be rich. A person can be famous. A person can hold power. But
the luckiest and wealthiest people are those that are free. (“Give me
liberty or give me death!”) And, by the grace of God, I was free. We were free,
“back in the day.” In a way that our children—and theirs—can never be again.
As I progress through my “golden years,” it is
not the physical maladies that pain me the most, it is the knowledge that my
descendants will never know the freedom I had—or the country I once knew.
1984 is here, even if 42 years late…and even with
Trump as president. On June 18, 1940, England’s Prime Minister Winston
Churchill gave a speech to the House of Commons in which he warned of “a new
Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of
perverted science.” Due to Churchill’s resolve and eloquence, and the
doggedness and commitment of Allied forces, that looming Dark Age was averted.
The malaise and suicidal empathy of Western
nations, burgeoning Muslim populations, along with the all-encompassing
surveillance and exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence portends a new
Dark Age. One that seems utterly unavoidable. How I wish it wasn’t so.
If
I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see
‘Cause
I’m as free as a bird now
And
this bird you cannot change
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