In President George W. Bush’s first 100 days, there has been a modicum of favoritism shown to both sides of the political spectrum.
The “right” has received the president’s attention and pledge to cut taxes; consideration of opening more federal lands to oil and gas exploration; a nod towards re-igniting the stalled nuclear power industry; and some attention to core religious values.
The “left,” meanwhile, has been given more money for education; a lukewarm acceptance of many Clinton-era environmental regulations; a pro-choice White House counsel; a gay Pentagon appointment; and promises to at least maintain key levels of federal spending on important lefty social programs.
Now comes the time to see if Americans of all political stripes are going to get a break from the administration as regards the issue of personal privacy.
Under new FCC rules, all cellular telephones must be fitted with a global satellite positioning device beginning Oct. 1; the program must be at least 95 percent complete by 2005. The programming must be good enough to locate a user within 1,000 feet.
Why? Well, obviously, so the user can be tracked, traced, found, located — whatever — by whomever is doing the looking, and for a variety of reasons, not the least of which would interest Big Brother.
And you thought that “OnStar” system for automobiles was just so cool and so unique, didn’t you?
Supporters of this piece of trash rule say it’s good because in an emergency, cell phone users can be easily found and taken care of if lost, hurt, or in some other kind of trouble.
Opponents — in this case, those people who can appreciate the incredible invasion of privacy this rule permits — say such devices are, well, incredible invasions of privacy. Were it not for the government mandating this, one might see the “wisdom” in it if the private cell phone industry offered it, say, as a service to customers who actually wanted it.
This rule was evidently written at some point during the eight years of the Clinton administration. And given our former president’s penchant for the Orwellian, socialistic and intrusive, this new rule doesn’t surprise me.
What will surprise — and anger — me is if President Bush, a Republican, or the Republican-controlled Congress, doesn’t make it go away.
Bush talked swimmingly and convincingly during his campaign about devolving power out of Washington, D.C. and back to the states and the people, where he correctly noted it rightfully — under our system of representative government — belongs.
But such talk is cheap, as such talk always is. Actions speak louder than words, and if there aren’t any words coming out of the Bush administration soon on this rule, it’s going to be implemented.
Granted, there could be a case made by people who say this isn’t a “forced” deal. “You don’t have to buy, own, lease or use a cell phone if you don’t want to,” they say.
Fair enough.
However, isn’t it amazing how the government waits until everyone is hooked on something before they move in to regulate and control it?
Also, while I don’t have to own or use a cell phone, there is no constitutional authority for government to require a private industry to be able to track its customers.
In fact, there is a constitutional prohibition against such invasions of privacy. True, the Fourth Amendment applies to government actions and agents, but hey — isn’t the FCC “government”? Isn’t this agency the one requiring this rule to be implemented?
Because it was ordered by a government agency makes it a “government intrusion” and, hence, unconstitutional.
I’m hoping that some bright young lawyer out there sees this monstrosity for what it is and files a suit immediately to block this rule.
Barring that, it’d be nice if the so-called Republican majority in Congress would hold true to one of its central tenets and oppose this big government rule before it’s implemented.
Barring that, I’d like to hear President Bush stand up and say, unequivocally, that this rule is improper, illegal and therefore won’t be implemented.
Barring that, I’d like to be first one to throw my cell phone away and tell Uncle Sam to go spit. If the cell phone industry had any brains, they’d lobby the hell out of this rule and get it overturned before they lose half their customers.
See, this is what happens when an irresponsible Congress abrogates its proper constitutional role to federal bureaucracies.
Bush pledged to reverse this trend. Here’s a great, big chance for him to make good on his promise of less federal intrusion and smaller, leaner federal government.
