When Congressman Al Green (D-TX) took the microphone at a House Democrats forum on privacy and government surveillance this week, he didn't start with talking points; instead, he started with George Orwell.
With Congress actively debating the reauthorization of FISA, Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee convened a forum featuring witnesses that included a former CIA analyst and a Minnesota resident affected by a recent ICE surge. However, it was Green's opening remarks that set a different tone entirely.
He reached back to 1984, Orwell's decades-old warning about authoritarianism, and argued that three of its most chilling phrases aren't fiction anymore; they're a roadmap.
From Literature to Legislation
The first, "war is peace." Green tied it to what he described as a governing philosophy that treats military force as a form of diplomacy. "We have a secretary who believes that we negotiate with bombs," he said. "He said as much."
The second, "freedom is slavery." Here, Green slowed down. He argued you don't need physical chains to control people; surveillance does the job quietly. When people feel watched, he said, they begin to monitor themselves, distance from others, and shrink their own lives out of fear. "You can enslave people by knowing their every move," he said.
Green then pointed directly to "Ignorance is strength” at what he called a troubling pattern of misinformation flowing from the highest levels of government, including repeated claims about a past election that courts have repeatedly rejected. "There are people who literally take that as the gospel," he said.
Then, almost without missing a beat, he pivoted to smart glasses. The wearable tech, capable of recording video and audio without anyone nearby knowing, genuinely unsettles him. "I don't know when I'm being surveilled," he said.
Then, stopping short of calling for a ban, but wanted to know: shouldn't using them to intentionally record someone in public require a warrant? He put the question to the ACLU.
Green wrapped up by talking about the Constitution, about mechanisms available to check a president, about whether the will exists to use them. The room said it for him: impeachment. "The way is there," he said. "The question is, do we have the will?"
