IS AMERICA FOLLOWING ENGLAND?   By Tom DeWeese   The proposition I debated before the Cambridge Union was "This House believes the United Nations is a dead loss." However, during my travels around the UK, I came to ask myself another question: "Is England a dead loss?" Consider the following items reported in the British news media during my stay in the country.'     ITEM: Life Style Tax         Perhaps you are familiar with government subsidized housing. People are charged different amounts for the same home, based on their ability to pay. In England, the practice is about to take a dramatic turn, effecting not just subsidized housing - but  private homes, too.  Families who live in desirable areas face massive increases in local taxes under a "Big Brother" scheme. Taxes will now be rated based on the following criteria (these are a few of the 287 factors to be considered);         · How many neighbors wear contact lenses      · How many vegetarians live nearby      · Which sports are watched      · Which charities they donate to      · The size of their phone bills       · Which pets they have      · The number of cars      · Whether they pay credit card balances in full      · Whether they invest in trust funds      · Whether they take vitamins or health supplements      · If they own garage door openers      · If they are considering switching gas or electric supplier      · If they are considering making a will      · If they are considering buying a sofa      · If they suffer from back pain        Such a program could not be put into place if it weren't for the massive data banks being accumulated on our every actions, from shopping at the super market to those incredibly invasive census surveys.          Homeowners in Britain are now living in fear. The only possible result of such incredible assaults on life style and the will to get ahead will be for neighborhoods to begin to decay as people refuse to make repairs or upgrades. This is the core of wealth redistribution schemes and their obvious result --poverty for all.     ITEM: Green TaxPrime Minster Tony Blair insisted the UK sign on to the discredited Kyoto Climate Change Protocol. Now his citizens will pay the price through a "green tax." Planned for every family are levies on driving, air travel, and refuse collection to force the population to cut back on emissions in compliance with the UN-driven Protocol. The amount of the tax will be about 1,000 Pounds for every family. Again, the government will be able to track every road trip and tax it by the mile. Washing machines to light bulb use will taxed. VAT taxes will be added to air flights, dooming the possibility of cheap air travel. Local governments will be given the power to snoop in trash cans to penalize those who don't recycle.The tax is not about helping the environment, as Kyoto has long ago been proven a hopeless farce. It is about government power and the implementation of Sustainable Development, which creates a new socialist/fascist controlled economy.               ITEM: Microchipping  everyoneA report just released in Great Britain expresses concern over the use of electronic surveillance technology. The report claims that by 2016 almost every movement, purchase and communication could be monitored by a network of  interlinking surveillance technologies. The study paints a frightening picture of what Britain may be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of closed circuit television cameras and other technologies.        Item: Rising dental costs. Dental offices are actually losing patients because of the National Health Service's (NHS) new dental payment system. Those who need one filling must pay a set rate of 42.40 Pounds - the exact cost paid by those who may get ten crowns. So, for those who need a minimum of work on their teeth, the cost is proportionately greater.As reported in the Daily Mail, "The Government clearly wants to squeeze the life out of NHS dentistry. People who care little for their teeth are encouraged into surgery. Those who care a great deal for their teeth are unable to afford the level of outlay for simple repairs. They are being forced to wait until grater damage is done to their teeth. It is the patients financial situation that determines whether they can have treatment of not." Such is always the fate of businesses and services under socialism. We're all equally punished.      ITEM: Euthanasia for disabled newborns    The Royal College of Obstetricians has called on the health profession to consider "active euthanasia" for seriously disabled newborns. The excuse is such action would curb the suffering of parents. "I  think it is morally wrong to strive to keep alive babies that are going to suffer many months or yeas of ill-health,' said Joy Delhanaty, a professor of human genetics at University College London.Such ideas are social engineering - not medicine. As John Wyatt, a consultant neonatalogist University College London said, "Once you introduce the possibility of intentional killing into medical practice, you change the fundamental nature of medicine."   Freedom advocates in the United States have warned of the dangers of every one of these outrageous actions now moving forward in Great Britain. England, once the light of the civilized world, is fast sinking into the human misery of socialism. If not curbed here, the United States is about 5 years behind the same fate.     Tom DeWeese is the President of the American Policy Center and the Editor of The DeWeese Report www.americanpolicy.org