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Godwin’s law doesn’t apply when talking about actual Nazis. Pre-collecting DNA from everyone to use as evidence against them in future criminal investigations

Godwin’s law doesn’t apply when talking about actual Nazis. Pre-collecting DNA from everyone to use as evidence against them in future criminal investigations is way over the line when it comes to “is this behaviour totalitarian or fascist”. Using DNA from a rape kit to identify someone in a crime is a clear violation of the 5th amendment. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

MichaelZuo 4y ago
If the people vote for the government to collect everyone’s DNA at some future point in time, that’s just how a democracy works. Freedom and liberty includes the freedom and liberty to make poor decisions.
- zaroth 4y ago
  A democracy without the guardrails of a constitution can absolutely slip into totalitarianism thru entirely democratic means. The majority vote can be rallied through fear and propaganda into vesting ever greater authority in a centralized seat of power, with any opposition vilified as an existential threat. The only way democracy survives is through a watchful and untrusting populace that constantly holds its government to account and seeks to limit its power and pervasive reach into the lives of the citizenry. Freedom and liberty require at its core the ability to dissent. Dissent in turn requires privacy because dissent by its very nature will be suppressed by those in power. I would theorize that mandatory en masse DNA cataloging is anathema to democracy because it inevitably is far too powerful a tool to suppress dissent.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    The constitution can be almost arbitrarily amended, or even replaced almost entirely, if 3/4 of voters agree, or 3/4 of their representatives in a constitutional convention agrees... you do realize a specific portion of the U.S. constitution explicitly enumerates that possibility?
- manicdee 4y ago
  If a population votes for the least worst government that doesn’t give that government permission to turn to autocracy slightly slower than the other option.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    The government is given permission, presumably, for whatever the voters voted for.

MichaelZuo 4y ago

If the people vote for the government to collect everyone’s DNA at some future point in time, that’s just how a democracy works. Freedom and liberty includes the freedom and liberty to make poor decisions.

zaroth 4y ago
A democracy without the guardrails of a constitution can absolutely slip into totalitarianism thru entirely democratic means. The majority vote can be rallied through fear and propaganda into vesting ever greater authority in a centralized seat of power, with any opposition vilified as an existential threat. The only way democracy survives is through a watchful and untrusting populace that constantly holds its government to account and seeks to limit its power and pervasive reach into the lives of the citizenry. Freedom and liberty require at its core the ability to dissent. Dissent in turn requires privacy because dissent by its very nature will be suppressed by those in power. I would theorize that mandatory en masse DNA cataloging is anathema to democracy because it inevitably is far too powerful a tool to suppress dissent.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  The constitution can be almost arbitrarily amended, or even replaced almost entirely, if 3/4 of voters agree, or 3/4 of their representatives in a constitutional convention agrees... you do realize a specific portion of the U.S. constitution explicitly enumerates that possibility?
manicdee 4y ago
If a population votes for the least worst government that doesn’t give that government permission to turn to autocracy slightly slower than the other option.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  The government is given permission, presumably, for whatever the voters voted for.