Over the last several years—especially after the adoption of the Patriot Act—many people have come to the conclusion that the current situation in America resembles that of a police state more and more. Unlike what the Founding Fathers had imagined, it appears that the federal government has been increasing in size, and giving itself the ability to monitor and control American citizens more and more.

Whether it’s controlling what you can and cannot say through their partnerships with social media companies; whether it’s the NSA spy program, which allows for the warrantless surveillance of Americans; or the abuse of the FISA spy warrant system, which allows the government to effectively spy on American citizens; whether it’s the FBI allocating precious resources to track down parents who speak up at school board meetings; whether it’s domestic terrorist plots that get foiled, only to be revealed that they were actually just cases of government entrapment; or whether it’s federal bureaucrats within the intelligence agencies influencing American elections—all of these examples reinforce the idea that, if we’re not already living in a police state, we are perhaps well on our way.

And so, with that as general background, a new film that’s just been released is exposing exactly this problem. It’s called “Police State,” and essentially it serves as a wake-up call exposing the threat to the American way of life.