“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”― Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial RomeGolden anarchy.There, I said it. And I said it proudly, and without shame.A friend of mine said it. A friend who is totally awash in anger and hopelessness.He was looking forward, to the day of golden anarchy in Canada.Why? Because he was fed up. Fed up with weak, incompetent and corrupt government.Fed up with so-called leaders who don't listen to us, and do what the heck the want.Fed up with bizarre legislation, that tilts like a horseman at carbon windmills. Legislation without consultation.As if we can save the world, with our petty green nonsense. What an embarrassing state of affairs.Fed up with arrogant and ungrateful kakistocracies, such as Quebec ... a province that does not even recognize our contribution, or our importance in Confederation.All they know is to say no, despite the heaps of transfer payments ... billions ... that we have given them.I sometimes wonder, quite honestly, if it's not so much an if — the big if —but a question of when.When will it happen. The tipping point. I honestly don't know.And is this the real reason young Justin wants to take our guns away, even though we have obeyed the law and been cleared by the Mounties, when purchasing them.Golden anarchy. A day of decision and reckoning.Gekommen, gekommen.It will come, and it will not be pretty.On a more sinister level, and without question, it is highly likely the RCMP and CSIS are preparing for this day as well.According to an internal report prepared for the RCMP, the "crises" rocking national and international affairs are likely to get worse, CBC reported.Over the next few years the latter could have a significant effect on the federal government and Canada's federal police force.A nice way of saying it could all go to hell in a handbasket."The global community has experienced a series of crises, with COVID-19, supply-chain issues, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all sending shockwaves throughout the world," says the report, entitled Whole of Government Five Year Trends for Canada."The situation will probably deteriorate further in the next five years, as the early effects of climate change and a global recession add their weight to the ongoing crises."The report was prepared by the RCMP's three-member Strategic Foresight and Methodology Team, a mysterious special section set up in 2022.It was shared with management at the RCMP's federal policing section, CBC reported.The heavily redacted nine-page report looks at shifts "in the domestic and international environments that could have a significant effect on the Canadian government and the RCMP."According to the CBC, the report paints a bleak picture of what the RCMP — and Canada — could have to face over the next several years."The geopolitical, economic, social, technological and environmental shifts presented here are complex and continue to evolve," the report warns."They can disrupt or redefine law enforcement work and operations in unexpected ways. Both minor and major shifts have the potential to cause multi-faceted disruptive change across the organization."Climate change will have a significant impact, the report predicted."Over the course of the next five years, environmental scientists expect that increasingly violent and even concurrent storms, worsening drought, floods and persistent heat waves all over the globe will reduce the global output of a variety of commodities," says the report.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."So-called 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 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."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," says the report.While the report says it covers geopolitical factors, references to geopolitical challenges appear to be among the passages redacted. Two pages of the report are entirely blank.We can't handle the truth, apparently. Not when it comes to anarchy, anyway.What stands out, of course, is the suggestion that law enforcement should "contribute to policy change," in response to challenges posed by new information technologies.In other words, we are not ready for it. South of the border, US spies are pretty much predicting a similar scenario.According a report prepared by the US National Intelligence Council, entitled A More Contested World is an attempt to look at key trends, the future does not look great.It openly imagines a world in the midst of a global catastrophe in the early 2030s thanks to climate change, famine and unrest."This mismatch between governments' abilities and publics' expectations is likely to expand and lead to more political volatility, including growing polarization and populism within political systems, waves of activism and protest movements, and, in the most extreme cases, violence, internal conflict, or even state collapse," the report said.Golden anarchy. It's coming folks. It's coming.
