LOSS

The gradual loss of freedom

When I was a teen in the late 80s, I learned from my mom that my paternal great grandmother told her that in her lifetime she saw many rights vanish. The exact words my mother told me are in my memory clear to see but dissipate as I reach for them. Something along the lines of my mother not being able to comprehend all the freedoms that were lost even before she came to be and that this was meant as a warning for her and her generation to guard these better than previous generations had. They did not. Nor has my own done any better. I also came to learn that the social security system almost failed passage because my great grand parents’ generation refused to allow a nationally issued ID number. So, it was written into the law that the SSN# would never be used as an ID number.

Allow me to use my situation and experience, as I know these better than I know those of others, to highlight some of the freedoms we have lost in just one generation.

During my 6 years in the navy that I joined to pay for college I read the privacy act too many times to count as we had to every time we filled out paperwork. The act prohibits the sharing of any information from the documents I had to fill out and sign with any other government agency except where needed for the administration of various programs. The navy could share my records with the VA but not the FBI without a warrant, as we were instructed anyway. In other words, government agencies and their officials were forbidden from sharing information on citizens unless mundane administrative tasks required it, otherwise there must be a compelling need backed up with a warrant to share information across agencies. However, even by this time, late 80s- mid 90s, this concept had already been weakened.

Back Stateside, I was a civil war reenactor. Early attempts at a civil war era naval uniform employed vintage U.S. naval uniforms, the ones still made out of the actual navy blue, melton wool. Many of those I procured had the name of their original owner stenciled on and, more importantly for this discussion, their Naval Service Number. At some time between the 60s and the late 80s when I entered the service, the navy switched from having their own, unique numbering system to using the SSN# for its members. Each branch of the armed services and each department of the government had its own, unique numbering system and this was for the protection of we citizens. If someone got a hold of say my Naval Service Number, they would not be able to use that to access anything other than my naval records. Not good, but far better than being able to access everything the government has on me throughout its numerous agencies. It also protected us from the government for they could not easily track any individual without court orders compelling agencies to cooperate.

The DoD has informed me Dr of at least three instances of my service record being leaked and I know for fact that at least one person and I believe more, has or is living under my name and SSN# in various States in the U.S.. I have learned that I have already been divorced and have at 3 least kids in the States whose mothers I have never met. Trade certificates too. And, most worrying for the health of my passport, these people have earned liens against my name and SSN#. Did the data breaches that resulted in my service record being among the many leaked play a part in any of this? Well, if the navy still used its own numbering system, such a lapse on the part of the government alone could not result in this.

Back to our time line. After departing Uncle Sam’s canoe club, I went to college. Graduated in 5 years, spending two of these studying in Japan. Here I could write a long story on how the protections the Privacy Act guaranteed were routinely flouted, but will leave that for another time. I will give you this just to show how far we have slipped, try telling just about any American that it is against the law to use the SSN number as an ID number. I wonder about the reactions of my readers when they see this.

After graduation I returned to Japan, that was 25 years ago this September. One generation ago. I arrived with a largish amount of money in both cash and travelers cheques and a credit card issued from a US bank. I kept a bank account open in the States with some money in it and left my parents with power of attorney. With my bank account and using my parent’s address as my home of record, it could be said that I maintained an address and a presence in my childhood hometown something that may not be legal now or at least can be the source of a major headache.

Credit card use in Japan was low. Few places accepted them, those that did required a minimum purchase and only those that dealt with large numbers of foreign tourists might accept plastic issued by US banks. Cash, Japanese Yen, was accepted and preferred by all. Now, even at places with human cashiers, we must use an ATM like gadget to pay. The “Charge” button is among the largest and most easy to find icons; you have to search for the “Cash” button and it doesn’t exist on increasing numbers of these machines. This for even the smallest purchases.

International Postal Money Orders (IPMO) were the only safe way to send or receive money and were not all that inconvenient. I could send money home, pay my student loan bill and receive money from home. Just had to wait for the air mail to arrive and make a trip to any post office. At first, I only needed to show ID to cash these. Over time, I was required to show ID to buy IPMOs as well. More recently, I had to provide the Japanese Post Office with my U.S. SSN# to buy or cash them. A later requirement was for the IPMO and paperwork I had to fill out with my name, address and U.S. SSN# thereon, to be sent to the main post office in Tokyo for approval. Once approved, I was given a time window when I had to return to my local post office, not in Tokyo, to cash it. IPMOs no longer exist. How can money be sent between the two countries now? I have no idea.

Each time I moved between the U.S. and Japan, I exchanged a large amount of money and bought a lot of Traveler’s Cheques, boxed up my belongings that would not fit in the amount of allowed baggage, the last time this was two checked bags and one carry on all of greater capacity than now allowed. Most of the boxes were sent surface mail, which from the US is no longer an option. I was even able to ship some through the airline as unaccompanied baggage. Shipping was just a matter of packing the boxes and filling out the little green sticker detailing what was in the box. A more thorough list was required at the PO but easy to complete. Then it was weighed and the postage for various shipping methods discussed. Simple, straight forward. If I found something on the way out the door that I forgot to pack, I’d just open the box, put it in, reseal the box and add it to the customs form.

Now, I must list all the contents before sealing the box on the USPS webpage, chose the method of shipment with out the aid of the postal scale and clerk, provide a lot of other information and await “approval” (They do not call it this but that is what is going on.), and the mailing label to be provided (IDNR is this was on the website or emailed.) for me to print at home. The several pages I must print out include documents that must be sealed within the box detailing the contents. No more last minute additions without risk of legal consequences.

Last year a new law was passed in Japan allowing for the revocation of permanent resident visas over unpaid social services payments. 23 years ago, upon inquiry my ward office informed me that I had fulfilled the obligation to have health insurance by having private insurance, specifically, that as long as I had private insurance, I was not required to pay into the national health care system. This is no longer the case. At or near the same time last year, another law was passed making mandatory pension payments enforceable. Within months, I got a bill demanding payment. As a reminder, I thought this was paid from the taxes I paid. Nope.

I had a private pension plan I paid into that I had to cancel to have funds available to make the monthly payments in to the Japanese pension system which does not guarantee payment to non Japanese citizens. I anticipate receiving a bill for the National health insurance scheme in a similarly short period of time, before year’s end. How is it that Japan’s bureaucracy, not known for speed and efficiency, can so quickly find we unsuspecting marks?

We have a relatively new, national ID number in Japan. The end result, unless wealthy enough to pay for both a private plan in addition to the those “offered” by the State, we are not allowed a private plan. We must settle for the sub par offerings of the State. I have my own private health insurance that is far better than what the government’s system provides that I will have to cancel so that I might be able to pay the premiums for the public plan. I had a private pension plan that I had to cancel so that I have money enough to pay for it. I was paying for myself, but am not allowed to. A generation ago and this was not as big an issue as it is today. Didn’t exist for me. I was paying for myself, not burdening the precious public systems. Now I am being forced to be dependent upon overburdened, under funded poor performing and expensive government services. And because I am unable to pay how many years of missed premium payments without help from a wife who is throwing me out in part for having to pay for my back payments to the pension system, I lose my visa and must return to the States.

But how do I bring my money and belongings back? Not as easily as a generation ago, if at all.

A generation ago we still had strong protections from a rough administrator, vindictive or otherwise corrupt government or changes completely destroying anyone’s lives for there were boundaries between agencies. Now, a change that we know nothing about can ruin us in less than a year. True, this part of my narrative is happening in Japan, but this is exactly what my great grand parents’ generation were concerned about and we are already seeing the erosion of our freedoms in the States because of it. We can see how this cooperation is misused and abused in the U.S. at present.

While DHS had to seek cooperation from the IRS to track down illegal aliens, a move I do support, many are crying foul. Yet, the IRS and State Department sharing information on U.S. citizens to deny or revoke passports of US citizens just suspected of owing over a certain amount of money to the U.S. Treasury, and not only for taxes, and no one cares. Or worse, cheer for it. A generation ago I could sell my belongings without the sales being known to any kleptocratic government. Now, thanks electronic payment systems and U.S. FATCA law, every noncash transaction is reported to the U.S. government for them to use in their nefarious schemes and to allow to be leaked without consequence. Well, not to them, certainly of great consequence to me.

In summary, one generation ago, I could bring and ship my belongs back and forth between Japan and the US easily. Now I need permission from the U.S. to ship things back. Carrying cash in large amounts is always risky, now the biggest risk is “civil forfeiture”. In the past, Travelers Cheques allowed for mostly risk free transportation of cash. These are extinct for my purposes. There are alternatives but all these are digital which includes tracking and most require a bank account. I will be without a bank account as I travel back to the U.S. and before I open a new one there. 25 years ago, International Postal Money Orders were a safe and efficient method to send money abroad. This no longer exist. If there is a safe, secure and private way to bring money back with me, I do not know what it is.

All this in one generation.