“In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical question with regard to the onslaught of government growth in the post-September 11th era: Is America becoming a police state?
“The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined.
“[T]he new intelligence bill … moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a full-fledged national ID card…
“Those who believe a police state can’t happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.”
— from “It Can’t Happen Here,” by US Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), December 21, 2004.
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2004/tst122004.htm
