Remember back around 2001 – 2002, there was a whole lot of blather about ‘freedom’, which was largely used to intimidate people into giving up their freedoms. Well, David Bromwich has codified our new regime for us:

1. There are good people and bad people.

2. A designated function of the police and prison officials is to determine who is good and who is bad.

3. If you are arrested, it may safely be assumed that you are one of the bad.

4. If, at the time of arrest or afterward, you protest your innocence loudly, or speak with indocility to an officer of the law, you have committed an offense graver than many crimes on the books.

5. Breaches of politeness toward authorities form a legitimate part of a record stored up for future use regarding the conduct of all Americans.

6. Authorities must keep such a record because Americans, through our tacit consent to laws passed or changed since 2001, have affirmed that we think nothing more important than our safety.

7. The duty to keep America safe, and to “protect” all Americans, outweighs the duty to see that existing laws under the Constitution are faithfully executed. Apparent violation of an existing law by a designated authority, so long as it can be seen as consistent with the higher duty of the maintenance of safety, is itself a sufficient reason for a change of law to accommodate the violation.

8. When not already effected by Congress, such changes will be executed by the Supreme Court.

9. There is a proper trade-off between unalienable rights and collective safety, just as there is a trade-off between the moral commandment not to commit injustice and the human desire to live as long and comfortable a life as we possibly can.

10. Whenever safety and comfort require that injustice be done to individuals, injustice is tolerable and should be supported by other Americans.

11. For an accused person, there is a correct and an incorrect posture.

12. The incorrect posture is to be indignant at things done to you, such as the imposition of unnecessary force or humiliation. The correct posture is to be grateful to authority for the things that have not yet been done.

What’s sad is that too many of our fellow citizens willingly submit to this authority. They want to live like this.

FREEDOM!