Commie Chronicles: The Obsolete Man / Part 01 of 02 Edmund Burke said, It is one of the finest problems in legislation, what the state ought to take upon itself to direct and what it ought to leave, with as little interference as possible, to individual discretion. -And – The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. Meaning, what entitlements government bestows with one hand, it inevitably takes freedoms with the other. This episode of The Twilight Zone illustrates both the past and potential future of Totalitarianism. Edited for time. I own nothing. Excerpted from The Twilight Zone: The Obsolete Man / 1961 Written by Rod Serling. Directed by Elliot Silverstein. With Burgess Meredith, Fritz Weaver, Josip Elic. www.imdb.com In a totalitarian society, Romney Wordsworth is condemned to death for the crime of being a librarian, and he is subjected to the harangues of the state’s Chancellor and his lectures about Wordsworth’s obsolescence. Wordsworth, however, makes one final request – that he be allowed to choose his method of execution and that it be televised live to the society. The Chancellor agrees and later visits Wordsworth at his house, where he learns that Wordsworth has had tons of explosives rigged under the house to go off at midnight in full view of national television cameras. But as The Chancellor begins to leave, he finds he has been double-crossed by Wordsworth, and suddenly he must face Romney Wordsworth’s terrifying vigil as the clock ticks down to …