Dear Reader,

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In the 2002 film Minority Report, Tom Cruise’s character is cruising around in his self-driving car, when the system labels him a fugitive of the law.

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Immediately, his car locks down and begins rerouting to the nearest police station.

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He’s forced to kick out his windshield and dash across traffic in a dramatic scene (unfortunately, it appears YouTube only has a low-quality version from 18 years ago, which you can view here).

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Yes, it’s science fiction.

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But science fiction has a way of predicting reality.

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And the idea of a government-accessible kill switch for your car? That could be a reality as soon as next year.

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You see, starting in 2027, every new car sold in America will be required by law to include a kill switch.

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Just to be clear, this isn't a fringe proposal, or even a bill currently being debated.

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It passed – it’s done.

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Representative Thomas Massie tried to stop it. 

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He submitted an amendment to defund the kill switch mandate. 57 Republicans joined 211 Democrats to shoot it down.

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So here we are.

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A basic freedom we took for granted – the freedom to go where we want, when we want – is quietly being stripped away.

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And the excuse is always the same.

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Control Disguised as Safety

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Sure, they claim that this isn’t about government control.

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They say it’s about preventing drunk driving and saving lives.

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They say that the mandate “only” requires a passive system that would cause the vehicle to deactivate itself should it detect an impaired driver – and that it is not subject to remote control.

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But let’s not kid ourselves.

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Almost every modern car already communicates with external servers.

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Almost two decades ago, systems like OnStar already boasted of capabilities to remotely disable your ignition.

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So what kind of technology do you think they have now?

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10 years ago, they already had the technology to track your smartphones via ultrasonic signals undetectable to the human ear.

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Imagine not just being locked out of your car…

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But locked out of every car you could possibly use – because they know it’s you trying to drive it.

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Of course, if that ever happens…

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You can be sure it’s because you’ve been branded a “threat” to public safety.

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And history has shown that safety is always a slippery slope.

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The Safety Slippery Slope

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The reasons always seem justifiable to begin with.

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Preventing terrorism, pandemics, and saving lives.

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In the name of safety, we locked down cities, froze travel, and let governments decide who could work and who couldn’t.

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In the name of safety, we passed the Patriot Act – and kept it long after the emergency passed.

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In the name of safety, France turned temporary terror measures into permanent domestic policing law.

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In the name of safety, Israel’s intelligence services repurposed terrorist tracking software to trace citizens’ COVID movements… until the Supreme Court intervened.

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Emergency powers always come dressed in “temporary safety” language. 

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But they somehow always manage to overstay their welcome.

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And this “kill switch” bill sets the stage for the violation of one of our most critical freedoms – the freedom of movement.

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Because never forget – your ability to move is your ability to choose.

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Oppressive regimes have always known this. 

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It’s why the Soviet Union built internal passport systems. 

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It’s why East Germany built a wall. 

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It’s why North Korea arrests citizens who try to leave.

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Inching Toward a Surveillance State?

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You don’t need conspiracy theories to see what’s happening.

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The surveillance state is already here – and it didn’t arrive in tanks. It arrived in terms of service.

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We’ve seen cell phone tracking purchased from data brokers… license plate readers tracking cars across years of movement… facial recognition deployed in cities without consent… even local police departments using Stingray devices to vacuum up nearby phones’ data without warrants.

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The government doesn’t always need a warrant anymore. It just needs a budget.

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Senator Frank Church warned in 1975 that unchecked surveillance could create "total tyranny.” 

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Edward Snowden called it "turnkey totalitarianism." 

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