What do you call those bakers being persecuted because they would not cater a gay wedding? What do you call the Mozilla CEO being fired over his donating in favor of traditional marriage? It's happening now. If you do not submit, they will destroy you.
That's not persecution compared to what our brothers and sisters suffer in the cesspools of the rest of the world, of which I just returned from one such place last week.
What you noted is just the ramp-up to institutionalized persecution, which will be followed by what we read in Matthew 24 and the book of Daniel and Revelation.
The Mark of the Beast is exactly what you noted; if you do not submit in thought and action to the Power that Rules, you will be destroyed.
Literally.
And don't forget the Muslims expanding everywhere in the US under the protection of Obama and his agents. If you do not submit to them, you will be destroyed, too. If you speak out against Muslims, CAIR, the MB and other advisors already in the US government will move against you.