I've been thinking about all this and am wondering if this is...

I've been thinking about all this and am wondering if this is the price of large population or not. There are exceptions, countries with large populations that haven't yet sacrificed individual liberty for state control, but most western democracies have definitely chosen the control route, including our own (even though we don't have a large population).

Look at NSW which has increased the powers of police enormously with little public outcry. Rudd with his internet censoring - and Howard and Rudd with their terrorism laws.

I'm reading about the tax reform agenda to hit the self-employed and wonder if that's in part because it's easier to control employees (but that could be a stretch).

At some point the citizen will need to decide if that's what he or she wants - to give up individual freedom for state control and all that it entails. The momentum is growing and it may already be out of our hands.