Cruz isn’t mincing words. His thoughts are clear on this issue.
And Ted Cruz unloaded on this scary surveillance tactic.
Sen. Ted Cruz is drawing a clear line against the creeping surveillance apparatus that has taken root across America.
During a recent episode of Bloomberg’s Balance of Power, the Texas Republican delivered a blunt assessment of Flock cameras.
Cruz left no doubt where he stands. “I don’t like Flock cameras. I don’t like government surveillance, I don’t think the government should be surveilling innocent citizens,” he said.
He followed that up by warning that “these Flock cameras really invite abuse, and I’m hopeful the political process will constrain it.”
Co-host Joe Mathieu pressed the issue, noting that Republican legislation already aims to ban federal spending on these devices.
He also asked what Justice Clarence Thomas might think of the cameras.
“I’ll tell you what a Ted Cruz would make of it, which is I don’t like Flock cameras. I don’t like government surveillance, I don’t think the government should be surveilling innocent citizens. We should use law enforcement to go after criminals. But we have a presumption of innocence,” Cruz said in response.
“And I think the surveillance state — China has built an espionage and surveillance state. I don’t want to see America the same way. I think these Flock cameras really invite abuse, and I’m hopeful the political process will constrain it.”
That stance resonates with millions of Americans tired of watching government and private contractors treat every driver as a potential suspect.
These cameras do not wait for warrants or probable cause. They simply record, store, and share the movements of ordinary people going about their daily business.The scale alone should alarm anyone who values liberty. Twenty billion plate reads a month means nearly every vehicle on American roads is tracked, logged, and potentially retained for years.
Law enforcement agencies can query the database at will, often without meaningful oversight or public accountability.
Cruz correctly points to the Chinese model as the cautionary tale. Beijing has constructed a digital panopticon that monitors citizens from cradle to grave, using cameras, facial recognition, and data fusion to enforce compliance.
Importing even a lighter version of that system into the United States would mark a sharp departure from the constitutional order the founders established.
