By Galen McPherson

2018 has come and gone, and the world previewed in the 1975 sci-fi movie “Rollerball” did not materialize. In case you missed it, nations no longer existed, and the world was run by corporations. Houston’s team, the focal point of the story, represented the Energy Corporation, and each team was the flag-bearer of its own industry. The “point” of rollerball, the sport, was that the team was everything, resistance to the corporation was futile, and the efforts of any one single individual were of no consequence. If you want to know more, go see the movie. The 1975 original, not that complete waste of film 2002 remake.

I write this because I observed the “Rollerball” philosophy firsthand this year, interestingly enough here in Houston. When coronavirus and all the ensuing trappings began to emerge, governors all over the country were at a loss of what to do.

Some did nothing. South Dakota Governor Noem believed that her state’s population was sufficiently mature and responsible to handle the event without her intervention. So far she has been proved right, although critics appear no matter what happens.

New York Governor Cuomo stepped in and made executive decisions, mandating that infected elderly be returned to nursing homes, where the contagion was concentrated and amplified.

Michigan Governor Whitmer put on her “big girl panties” and stepped up. And stepped all over Michiganders’ personal rights and liberties, declaring her authoritarian opinion to be the sole driver of behavior and determinant of what is right and wrong in the Great Lake State. Her ban on practically everything for everyone except her husband soon rankled enough people that her actions were overturned by her state’s Supreme Court as being unconstitutional and of no effect.

Texas Governor Abbott took the appropriate tack, declaring that he had no right to impose what amounts to laws without legislative authority, instead issuing “guidelines.” However, here in Harris County, not to be outdone by her Michigan exemplar, our county judge, abetted by Houston’s mayor, declared that certain measures would be mandatory and punishable by incarceration and fine. When the governor reminded them of his approach, indicating that they did not have legal authority to do as they planned, someone in the circle of advisors remembered the movie “Rollerball.”

What followed was a strategy that, while they, as government, could not mandate the behavior of the citizenry at large without violating their personal liberties and rights, what they could do was remove the city/county “permission slip,” the license to do business, for any company that failed to impose (voluntarily, of course) what were “obviously prudent and necessary” (determined solely at their discretion) measures, those very behaviors they were barred constitutionally from implementing directly.

Companies got the message quickly, requiring patrons to wear prescribed masking, maintain specified distancing, and other measures. Companies required employees to submit to medical testing as a condition of employment. Companies imposed work isolation bans on anyone testing positive or being “in close contact” with anyone else, even those only suspected of being infected, often without compensation for lost wages/hours required without proof of infection. Reentry to the workplace was made difficult, often requiring two consecutive positive tests within a prescribed period, in spite of high false negative rates and false positive rates approaching the 25% mark.

How is this akin to “Rollerball”? We often say that globalists will not have their way with us here in the United States because of the governmental protections we have secured over the centuries, that our system and our laws will prohibit our government from abridging these protections. But what if it’s not the government that takes away that right? What if it is a corporation?

What if the banking industry of “Rollerball” sentiment were to eliminate currency, requiring all citizens to bank electronically? Well, you wouldn’t have to bank electronically, but no one will accept currency now because the banking industry won’t recognize it. Look to the Democrat Party Platform for its plan for the “unbanked and underbanked.” And the banking industry could turn your access on and off at the flip of a switch, denying any access to your “money.” Thinking that this could NEVER happen?

What if the energy industry decided on the rates of generation and distribution of electricity around the world? You would only have electricity available during periods the industry allowed. You wouldn’t HAVE to use the government provider for your energy needs; you could build a windmill or create a solar panel array, if you want. Look at California right now.

What if the information industry (Facebook, Google, and Amazon) declared that all information comes through them, not a governmental agency, bypassing protections of freedom of expression and freedom of the press? Couldn’t happen? Look around.

“Rollerball” may have been more science prediction than science fiction.

(Galen McPherson is an Air Force Academy graduate and was a fighter pilot for 20 years before “retiring” to a second career.)