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The calm acceptance of tyranny The calm acceptance of tyranny is often more scary than its imposition in the first place. I saw the following letter in the online edition of the Daily Telegraph, the right-leaning broadsheet not normally known for excessive idiocy. The following letter on ID cards was written by a certain R.E. Parker who clearly regards libertarian concerns about ID cards as so much paranoia. The letter is a classic:
“I had an identity card for years during my time working in the Gulf states and I didn’t feel that my civil liberties were being infringed. During a recent trip to Oman I wished I did have an identity card as the bank would not change my money without formal identification.”
This surely misses the point. As a freedom-lover I don’t mind being asked for ID in certain cases and indeed, in a free market, all kinds of institutions would make it commercially sensible for persons to carry ID of some kind, such as banks in Oman. But what the letter-writer is interested in, I assume, are state cards, imposed by force.
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