imported post
In a sense, we are all on a "list." That is, our government has it out to enslave all of us, not just a select few. Since we are all on the list, the only thing to do now is resist.
The idea that one might be on some special "watch list," to be the first thrown in prison is used to terrify people into submission: if you remain complacent and don't stand out, maybe you won't be the first to go.
Come on people...! Complacency, and unwillingness to break the mold in demanding government to respect our rights, is the biggest problem America faces today, and all this "list" paranoia serves to exacerbate it. It is one of the very mechanisms by which control is achieved.
Furthermore, if the government is as all-powerful, omniscient, and generally efficacious as these tin-hat theories require, then why does it fail so miserably at everything it sets out to do (like planning Iraq, or managing our economy)?
The fact is, the system requires us to believe that it is capable of enforcing total control, because it doesn't have the ability to follow through. Government is like an addict when it comes to power. When was the last time it was able to say "no" to amassing more of it? I ask, if our government IS capable of enforcing total control, then why has it simply not done so?