Amidst all the civil libertarian furor over the Patriot Act I and II, no one has yet commented on the "citizen reporting" provision. By this provision, every adult in America will be required to file a yearly report on themselves, and send it to a new government office that is charged with tracking every person's whereabouts, living circumstances, etc. The yearly report required from each adult must contain:

• Name
• current address
• name of spouse (if any)
• names of children (if any)
• Social Security numbers for all the above
• title of job
• address of employer
• amount of income
• any significant expenditures during the year
• information about bank accounts or any investments
• information about loans, mortgages, and other obligations
• information about what charities the adult supports with his or her money
• information about medical bills
• Potentially much more.

As should be obvious, these reporting requirements are onerous, intrusive, and only serve to allow a massive federal bureaucracy to monitor Americans' lives. I'm surprised that there hasn't been more publicity and protest over these proposed violations of the constitutional right to privacy that we all should enjoy.











By the way, I'm just kidding about the Patriot Act(s). What I described is actually the current requirement re: reporting to the IRS every April 15. I just feel like venting on that subject this time of year.