Waze

One of the clearest indications you live in a police state – or one well on its way to becoming one – is “rules for us” (you and me) and “rules for them” (government officials and enforcers). This manifests in numerous ugly ways, the latest being the controversy over an app called Waze.

Among other useful functions such as alerting drivers to traffic jams down the road, it alerts drivers to cops down the road. Cops, of course, do not like this at all. It is bad for business. And that is exactly the right word.

Arrest-Proof Yourself Dale Carson Best Price: $8.49 Buy New $10.53 (as of 05:55 UTC - Details) We’re told that radar traps and so on exist not to extract dollars from our wallets but for “safety.” If so, why do the cops squeal so loudly about Waze? After all, people slow down for the trap up ahead. Isn’t that the desired object?

Obviously, not.

The squealing erupts not because people are slowing down but because they slow down in time to avoid being hit with a fine for not slowing down.  As they used to teach in journalism school: Follow the money. It is always about the money. 10 Rules for Dealing w... Best Price: $8.42 Buy New $18.00 (as of 10:53 UTC - Details)

Power, though, is another big inducement.

Waze undermines the power wielded by the state’s Praetorians. It somewhat levels the playing field. It helps ordinary citizens avoid interactions with the costumed and badged power-trippers running amok these days. “The law” is of no real use because it works for them – not for us. If you doubt this, try asserting your Fourth or Fifth or even First Amendments in court… or for that matter, on the street.

BUSTED: The Citizen&rs... Best Price: $3.99 Buy New $19.95 (as of 11:20 UTC - Details) The rights of the Praetorians, meanwhile, are effectively without limit.

Which is why Waze and other organic countermeasures have been sprouting up. Like the underground press behind the old Iron Curtain, such means are the only means available when the entire system is geared to crush the ordinary person under its bloated and indifferent weight.

One of the most delightful features of Waze is that – using real time updates collated via social media such as Twitter – it can hip you to a “safety” or “drunk driving” checkpoint up ahead in ample time to avoid it. Previously, one had no real choice but to submit to the rights-rape of a random/probable cause-free police investigation (interrogation and search). Roll up on one of these rights-rape zones and you had to go through it. Because making a U turn would result in even worse. You’ve just given the rights-rapers their “probable cause” to come screeching after you. Your disinclination to have your rights raped becoming the pretext for having your rights raped.

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