Where is the off switch?

What would be the next step, I wonder, in a country that is already seeking to allow the police to arrest and detain individuals for significant lengths of time without affording them the luxury of a proper trial?

What would be the next step in a country where the police are seen as being increasingly political in their actions and motivations? I mean, they already seem to have excessive representation when it comes to deciding what new legislation is required, a situation that is already beginning to motivate some politicians into making statements. The ”police don't run the country” they say. We know that but do they?

What would be the next step, do you think, in a country where the police seem to get away with restraining protesters via the use of approved punches to the face when the subjects they are supposed to be protecting have no recourse to such approved methods?

What would be the next step in a country that seeks to impose compulsory ID cards on all of its population at huge cost when there are countless better ways of spending the billions of our money that such a scheme will require?

What would be the next step in a country whose government has no effective political opposition?

Troops on the streets? Yeah, why not?

We are living under special circumstances at the moment but they will not last forever. After victory, which will come as sure as eggs is eggs in the coming years, will we see all of these special requirements repealed and withdrawn?

I very much doubt it.

You see, even though we know these are ‘interesting times’ there has been no official government declaration of the fact. No specific Act of Parliament around which all these infringements of our civil liberties are structured, such as a declaration of war or some such. No bargain with the people. There is no single event and no single legal article upon which we can say “right, that’s done with then, now we can get rid of this framework that was created to deal with these special times”.

This is the single most troubling issue for me in this war on terror. The government adds to its machinery of power stating that it is necessary for our own good during this distressful period. They do so without offering us any kind of off switch.

And that is crucial, for without one these the new powers for the powerful will never be reversed.