Land Of The Free?

The sun glistened across the morning sky as I joined the line.  “Apparently I wasn’t the only person to wait until the last minute to get this taken care of. “ I said to the man in front of me. “You know they said we would eventually get to this sort of thing, but I never thought it would actually happen.” He responds.  “Whose damn idea was this anyway?” I asked. “Hell who really knows? They all lie to us anyway. It all started with this government mandated healthcare, and now they are going to know anything and everything about us. What the hell though, at least we won’t have to wait in these damn lines anymore to renew our drivers licenses.” He said. With a nod of my head the conversation ended. I couldn’t help but think of how we could have reached this moment. We had become a complacent people, taking everything our government had told us all these years without questioning anything. Slowly over time they had taken away freedoms we had once taken for granted. My mind thought about how ten years ago this line would have been tormented by protesters, now it was nothing but the quiet whispers of the people in line.

         When my turn arrives I’m asked for my Federal ID, Social Security card, Bank card, as well as any credit cards I have. Each bit of information is scanned into the computer system and the subsequent card is then shredded. The lady behind the counter tells me “The G9 chip replaces all those cards as well as containing a GPS tracking device. At your next doctors visit they will upload all your health information to the G9 chip. Same goes for your dentist. Read the pamphlet, the website is listed on the back as well as the phone number if you have any questions. They will call your number when the implant is ready for injection. Have a nice day.”  With that I had a seat and waited my turn. “Why do you suppose the elected jerk offs are always exempt from this shit?” a man sitting next to me asks. Why? It is a very good question. I muttered the only response I could come up with. “Assholes always get their way” With a chuckle he said “True enough friend, true enough” “This all feels so wrong to me, but what are you supposed to do when it’s the law now.” I thought to myself. How many more freedoms will they take away? Hell there isn’t much left. We can no longer have guns, free speech is no longer aloud, you can’t practice religion unless it’s Catholic, there’s probably more things but I’ve grown so use to not having them I can’t even remember.

         “C983” I hear over the loud speaker. I get up from my seat, and am led to a room in the back. “You’ll just feel a small pinch in the back of your neck.” The woman tells me. I’m not sure where this bitch learned what a small pinch fells like, but it felt to me like someone had just stabbed me in the spine. “Do you say that shit just to try and calm people down before bludgeon them to death?” I scoffed. “You should be careful what you say these rooms are recorded sir.” She said angrily as she left the room. “Am I finished?” I called after her. “Yes” came the answer from the hall. I collected myself and walked toward my car, pausing only to notice that the once gleaming sun now was covered by clouds. I sat in my car for several minutes. Had we made the right choice by staying? I could have left this country years ago, and taken my family away from all of this. We decided to stay, it wasn’t fair after all to take the children away from everyone they knew. In fact we only knew one family that had fled the country, and they were having a much worse time of it in England. They had no jobs, no food, and no help from the government there. Our government was doing everything to make our lives easier. The once mandate healthcare was now government provided healthcare, basic utilities were all provided by the government, and they were now providing our kids with their first college degree. Sure taxes are an outrage, but with all they provide who can complain. Surely we’ve made the right choice.

         I arrived at home to find no one there. I decided to take a look at the information on the device that had just been implanted into my body.  What is this thing capable of, and how much do they actually know about me based off of this device? At first I begin skimming the pamphlet, but then something catches my eye. Written in small print I see “while voice recording is enabled by default it is not transmitted automatically.” Voice recording? Why would this need to be a feature of this device? Have they been listening to me since the moment of getting this damn thing? I continue reading, now much more intrigued about the information I’m reading. “Beginning with the G10 implant video recording will be possible” it reads. Again I think “why?” “The G11 should be able to use the vision of the host to send video feeds back to a remote dump.” Remote dump? Video feeds? What is our government trying to accomplish? This is a gross invasion of privacy. There must be more to the story, something I don’t know about. I’m going to have to talk to my friend who works for the government and find out what he knows about all of this. How could this have made it past the American people so easily? I remember when this all began hearing about how no one would have to worry about their privacy being invaded. All I can think about now is what other information is this thing sending them about me. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I wait all this time to start questioning these things? I really had no time to worry about it I’m behind in my work.

         Working from home has its advantages, but it has its drawbacks as well. I turn on the afternoon news and begin my work as a computer programmer. I deeply involved in my work writing software when something on the news catches my attention. “A mutilated body was found near the river in downtown this morning. His government issued implant had been forcibly removed from his body.” “Great now they’re killing each other over these damn things” I think to myself. Suddenly the TV screen goes blank. “Damn cable company.” I say loudly. I turn off the TV and go back to work. Half an hour or so later the phone rings. It’s my son who is away at school. “Hey dad did you get it yet?” he asks “Yes I got it, but did you read about this thing son. All that it is capable of?” I question him. “Come on dad, you’re a technology guy for crying out loud!! Stop living in the past. These things are the wave of the future. Imagine how easy our lives are going to be. No more going to the doctor when you’re sick they just read your chip remotely and diagnose you. No more needles in your arm, they just ask they chip to analyze a blood sample. It’s a great thing dad.” He replies to me rather demandingly. “I listen to the news son, I know about all the ways it is supposed to make our lives perfect. I’m talking about the voice recorder, and the video recording they will do on the next one. Don’t you think that’s a bit much to be giving to people who have the potential to put you in jail?” I respond angrily. “Dad they don’t do voice or video recording. That’s just a myth put out there by the people who are against moving forward.” He says “You’re wrong son!! Didn’t you read the information packet that came with this piece of shit?” I say now feeling my blood pressure beginning to rise. “Are you saying that it says it does voice and video recording dad? I thought that was just a lie.” “No son. Read the pamphlet.” I tell him. “Let me call you back dad.” He says followed by the click of the phone hanging up.  This is my fault, I know that. I never taught my children to think for themselves. We have always followed the masses, done what we were supposed to and never once questioned why our country was doing the things it has done. I try to call my daughter, but it goes straight to her voice mail. I wonder if she knows about this. She’s a high school kid, she shouldn’t have to worry about such things, but she should know. I can’t help but feeling as if I have failed my children.