FEMA and presidental messages

On Thursday, every person with a cell phone in the United States will be getting a text from the President. This is a test of a new FEMA communications process. THERE IS NO OPT OUT.

Think about the possibilities here. Yes, the positives are obvious. The need to communicate to the citizenry quickly during a national emergency and disasters is the intended outcome here. When with more people cutting the cord on phones and power outages, something had to be thought of.

Now the negative. OK, I really don't have to. But let's talk about a few of them anyway.

What are the rules for this usage? Now as many of you that have read my posts and blog, know that I am not a big fan of this administration. But I hoping some solid rules are in place.

Imagine a president suddenly sending out a message declaring an emergency and asking Americans to take action. And that is the problem. What action? Some messages will be considered benign, but intrusive. Now visualize the president calling for Americans to take up arms against not only their fellow citizens but parts of the government. Too extreme? Then imagine him sending political posts. The president endorsing candidates or instead of tweeting, you're now getting those post to your phone.

This is a dangerous proposition. In 1948, a little book was written about the intrusiveness of the government in our lives. I think you've heard of it, it was called 1984.

Now at this point some of my critics will start laughing and pointing fingers at me because of my previous liberal stances. Well they really don't understand me very well then. And I will explain this in a later post. But even the most die-hard bleeding heart liberal can see where the danger of this process is. And conservatives should be standing right next to the Liberals on this one.

Will this be a good and wonderful thing for emergency preparedness and Communications? Or will this be a propaganda tool? Time will tell. But we, the citizens, will need to be ever vigilant. That is the responsibility of Liberty.

Note: due to Hurricane Florence, the test has been pushed to Oct 3.