In order to get me interested in a new Threat To American Democracy and Freedom, you need to show that it's actually novel and unprecedented. And then it's only as interesting as its potential to actually scale. Remember red-light cameras? In Georgia they had to take them out because after the public bitched, they had to increase the length of the yellow light and the company running them couldn't make ends meet.
Without economic incentives, the political will to keep it going, and a novel approach, it's really hard to get interested in outrage or fear over technological dystopia.
>America has a long history of facilitating other nations' experiments in tyranny. Like, a really really long one. Considering how long America has been around say compared to Europe that's quite a claim.
I think this might have been it:
https://www.amazon.com/Friendly-Dictators-Americas-Embarrass...
Homeland Security’s New Database to Include Faces, DNA, and Relationships - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/06/hart-homeland-security...
http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/18/15332742/us-border-biometr...
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/27/us-facial...
http://jacksonville.com/public-safety/2016-11-11/how-accused...
Bonus, from the fascism side (the real definition, government and corporate cooperation): http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2016/07/10k-google-wi-fi-ki...
And from the speculative side: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-baltimore-secret-sur...
Just saw an article I can't find any longer about China using 10-sensor cameras to do facial recognition at a city-level. Built by a university in the US....things do not look as bright as you're painting them, I'm afraid.