[Avoiding_Sulla]

The story arose because it was reported -- and proven from investigation as recorded -- that a Scottish Bank truly was requesting political affiliation before allowing someone to open up a bank account. Error or no, this is an event that exemplifies the word statist. Financial chains that will restrain the individual like no other we in the West have yet seen in our lifetime. Let me highlight the closing paragraph.

Of course, it may be foolish to worry about these things.... [Still,] Of all the questions that are said to be asked in Chicago, the most important one of all is "who sent you?"

Wretchard's closing comment is his wistful way of tying the Obama administration's banking "ventures" and their looming consequences to this story.

[G.Mason]

Hmmm ... I might be prompted to ask the bank employee if he or she has a daughter that is sexually active, and if I can bed her.

[Uncle Ike]

” But in principle, a greater amount of government control over the economy, especially the banking industry, may not be without consequences “

Don’tcha just love British understatement??

[Man50D]

This scenario almost sounds like a scene out of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged except most people in the story are too poor to obtain a credit card thanks to socialism.

[Avoiding_Sulla]

I think the story from the Spectator.UK that you started with could have been subtitled "Wholly Big Brother, Batman!" without being hyperbolic. I say that because it was written with an update that declared that all he had uncovered from his investigation could merely have been a clownish error (not to say blunder) in setting up bank policy to follow government requirements.

W, I don't know if you even bother coming back to FR anymore, but I wanted to pose this observation to you here where readers such as I are less subdued than you in their reactions.

[chase19]

I’d just tell them - I’m a Ron Pauler.

[Condor51]

Personally I think the following should be asked for any loan application, bank account, library card, or for a job:

"Are you now, or ever been, a member of the Communist Party? And do you have Socialist-Communist leanings?"

Start with Congress and go from there.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Interesting that in the name of "transparency" and "fighting corruption" the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians want to violate the privacy of ordinary citizens. The politicians will not allow themselves to be scrutinized, but they want all of your private information.

This is a first step. In the Soviet Union, people who did not join the Communist Party were denied higher education and were not allowed to have good jobs and they were discriminated against in many other ways. When the Nazis took over in Germany, people were told to join the party or they would lose their jobs, pensions, etc. Just the passive resistance of not being a party member was enough to get people sent to concentration camps. Every totalitarian system needs to keep a list of "politically unreliable" people.

[Erik Latranyi]

I can foresee where such questions are asked prior to getting a marriage license, prior to getting a concealed carry license, and prior to getting a driver license.

You see, conservatism is a mental disorder and it should be taken into consideration before allowing reproduction, self-defense and driving.