As in Canada, so in the USA???

 

It's emerged that a couple of years ago, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) did a deep dive into potential future challenges in the light of then-current circumstances in Canada.  The report was not publicized until very recently.  I'm going to leave out the politically-correct "climate change" stuff, because I'm far from convinced things are as bleak as the "woke" like to paint them:  but the rest of the report (the parts that have been released, anyway) makes interesting reading.

Here's how the RCMP sees social and political developments over the next few years in Canada.  Could we see the same thing here in the USA?  Frankly, I'll be surprised if we don't.

The report paints a bleak picture of what the RCMP — and Canada — could have to face over the next several years.

. . .

"Emergency management planning should be considered by law enforcement decision makers to ensure continued levels of service delivery. Capacity building through the attraction and retention of qualified staff remains a challenge to law enforcement."

Political polarization and resentment, coupled with the threat of an economic recession, will also present a challenge, the report predicts.

"The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations," says the report.

"For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live. The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the fact that the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations."

Populists have been capitalizing on a rise in political polarization and conspiracy theories and tailoring their messages to appeal to extremist movements, the report says, adding that authoritarian movements have been on the rise in many liberal-democratic countries.

"Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fuelled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions," says the report.

New information technologies, including AI deepfakes, quantum computing and blockchain, could also present challenges, says the report.

"Law enforcement should anticipate that criminals will leverage technological innovations to gain profit and influence," the report says. "Law enforcement should also continue to contribute to policy change related to the privacy of personal information, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, quantum computing, digital ledger technology and more."

. . .

Christian Leuprecht, a Queen's University and Royal Military College professor who specializes in defence and security, said the section of the report on the challenges posed by new information technologies — and the suggestion that law enforcement should "contribute to policy change" in response — stood out for him.

"That's a highly unusual statement," said Leuprecht. "This is a hint that clearly there is a sense that the policy framework in this country is not adequately set up for the challenges of everything from safeguarding personal information ... artificial intelligence, the connectivity of the Internet of Things … the privacy challenges and others presented by quantum computing and blockchain technology, and the accelerant that has proven for all sorts of criminal activity in this country."

Leuprecht said the report also points to some threats that are often overlooked, such as problems with global supply chains and the need to improve emergency management planning.

"What we see is some of the disconnect between the strategic threat assessment ... and the resources, capacities, capabilities and political will to posture Canada effectively for what is clearly going to be a very difficult future for this country," he said.

There's more at the link.

I daresay most of us can identify many areas where American society and politics are just as screwed up (if not more so) than Canadian.  The key issue, as noted in the highlighted passages above, is that our systems of government and politics are simply not capable of responding to such pressures in anything like a satisfactory manner.  Too many of our state and national leaders are out to use any opportunity that arises to arrogate more power to themselves and/or their political parties, rather than work for the good of the people of that state or our nation as a whole.  That applies across the aisle - it's not just a left-wing or right-wing problem.  Our leadership has become stultified, atrophied, insular.  The rot runs so deep that flexibility and responsiveness are largely conspicuous by their absence.

This, of course, makes it all the more urgent for us, as individuals and like-mined "tribes" or self-selected small communities, to prepare ourselves for these disruptive factors.  That's not just in terms of stockpiling food and basic essentials, either:  it's educating ourselves to provide as many as possible of the services we need from within our own ranks, rather than relying on our local, state and national authorities to provide them.

I think a very good example is health care.  I'm facing multiple surgeries this year, and frankly I've been horrified by the deterioration in professionalism and competence that I've observed in the past couple of months, compared to what it was even five years ago.  The bureaucracy and administrative orientation (rather than patient and health orientation) is mind-boggling - so much so that I've already refused to continue with one major medical practice, and asked to be referred to a different specialist for a forthcoming surgery.  If things are that bad inside "the system", we need to make ourselves as independent as possible of that system by improving our fitness and personal health, ceasing unhealthy habits, and stockpiling the medications we need to deal with our present and likely future health problems.  For several years I've seen to it that my wife and I have a six-month supply of every long-term prescription medication we take.  I'm now doubling that, to a year's supply, and adding to it a selection of antibiotics that we've used in the past for common conditions and that we might need again.  I think I'd be irresponsible not to do so when the health care system can't guarantee their availability.  (That doesn't even consider the frightening possibility that China, which supplies the vast majority of all medications sold and/or prescribed in the USA, might restrict their availability as a geopolitical pressure tactic.  Imagine where that might leave us!  People might - almost certainly would - die as a result.  How would we, as a nation, respond?  How could we respond in any effective way that would solve the problem?)

One final note.  If the RCMP has produced this report for the Canadian government, it's just about certain that US law enforcement agencies and/or the Justice Department have produced something similar for US policymakers.  The question is, what does that US equivalent report say?  What measures does it suggest to "control" the situation (i.e. control the population)?  How many constitutional rights and freedoms may be trampled underfoot in the process?  Judging by the way the COVID-19 fiasco was handled, more than a few may be at serious risk.

Peter