Originally published in the Front Range Voluntaryist, Issue #9, November 2017
Think about your independence.
Think about why it is that laws never go away?
Think about why the tentacled hands of government never release?
Think of the concept of legal creep and let’s just keep it specific to vehicles for now: think seat belt laws, think vehicle rear view camera requirements, think car seat laws (is your kid 40 lbs. yet?), think car registration fees (may I please pay a fee to drive on a road that I allegedly own and say thank you 14 times at the DMV so that the grumpy worker doesn’t make things difficult for my renewal?). Think gas taxes, think fuel economy standards, think crash test ratings….every year countless new regulations are added to the books, but when was the last time car related deaths decreased?
Of course, big companies are in favor of increased regulations. It makes them look good in the news when they support a new “safety” feature, all the while knowing full well that any additional regulation just makes it that much harder for any new manufacturer to enter the market.
Ditto for car seats: when was the last time a new car seat manufacturer came to market?
Once enshrined, laws never goes away and the testing and certification processes that are required present such an insane barrier to entry such that no new company could ever make an entrance. Now that’s job security that only money and influence can buy! This is cronyism at it’s worst; this is legal plunder. You ultimately pay for it, but you have been conditioned to think otherwise.
All car related regulations are passed under the guise of safety, yet your car is the least safe place you could be. The odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 20. The odds of dying in a terrorist attack are 1 in 20 million. But turn on the damn news and prepare to run for your life.
Think about tickets for letting your car warm up in the dead of winter. Remember to report your neighbor if you see this happening. Type this into your search engine: “ticket for letting your car warm up.” You guessed it, the law is there for your safety and to prevent your car from getting stolen. Earlier this year in Denver, a city parks and rec vehicle was stolen and within minutes swarms of police cars gave chase and surrounded the thief in a construction dumpster, news crews had live feeds — this must be stopped — we must get him! Try this, report your car stolen, in a few months (if you’re lucky) you’ll get a pathetic email saying: sorry, just couldn’t find it – good luck! There is no concern for you.
Think about child protective services informing you that you aren’t “allowed” to teach your kids to ride the bus by themselves. The state knows best: you are not fit to make that call. The state will determine how best for you to raise your kids.
Think about all the regulations, taxes and fees that you encounter on a daily basis in addition to what is taken from you come tax time (where you celebrate only losing three months worth of your annual take home pay). Here’s an exercise: try to line item out the all the myriad taxes, fees and regulations that you encounter for one single day of your life. Did you just read this on your phone? Check your phone bill for the federal, state and local taxes. Used a wi-fi connection? Check your internet bill. Just charged up your phone? Check your electric bill. Is it warm in your house? Check your heating bill. Do I need to go on? Every damn step of your life is taxed and regulated. Sure, it’s only a fraction of a penny at a time; that is deliberate, intentional and immoral.
Think about cradle to grave under the state. Need a ride? Subsidized bus rides are available. Hungry? Food stamps. Need healthcare and financial assistance for family expenses? The state can help, just don’t work too hard at your job and make more than the arbitrary amount that has been set; just stay in that slightly below poverty level and we’ll take care of you. Out of work? There are many city and state level jobs – help is always needed making sure everyone is complying with our multifarious laws. Need a place to live? We have subsidized housing available. Facing eviction? Help is available. Can’t afford to educate your kids? Believe or not, we have government schools…for twelve years! And college student loans – lots of ’em! Job training? The state does that too! There is also a tremendous foreign policy in place that keeps the war machine rolling, if you aren’t lucky enough to be selected to die — err, serve — for the state, you can find work with any number of military partners who build our machines of death and destruction.
[…interruption…]
We can watch your every move, scan every tweet, review every website that you have visited. We know you are reading this article. Everything you watch on TV is a staged Q&A session, we control the narrative. We instigate wars and overthrow leaders we don’t like. We wreck entire regions of the world under the guise of a war on terror. We infiltrate and foment division domestically in every party, faction and group. We know you don’t know where we are at war. We have you debating kneeling or standing for a flag. We do it all for you. Don’t like it? We’ll throw you in a cage.
We post signs in restrooms declaring it a crime to not wash your hands. We require you to obtain a license for cutting someone’s hair. We determine the required diameter of a stairway handrail. We are everywhere.
[…end transmission…]
The further intertwined the state is in your everyday life, the harder it is for you to conceive of existing without it. There isn’t an easy way out and that’s by design.
Ready for more? Let’s grab a drink.
Think about state liquor boards controlling and facilitating the sale of alcohol but leasing storefront space from privately owned entities; get that public-private partnership established and it becomes extremely difficult to untangle. Just sit back and wait for the popular refrain of “property owners will suffer” if we break these leases to allow a free market approach to the sale of liquor – we can’t let that happen! Etc, ad nauseam. Think about state liquor boards voting to add a fee on the sale of alcohol to provide funding for a district attorney’s office. If you get rid of that fee you, citizen, will be threatening the common good! Not to mention these are un-elected bureaucrats imposing taxes! Think prohibition of alcohol sales on Sunday. Think regulations governing hours of operation. Think prohibition of alcohol sales at supermarkets. Think franchise laws where you are required to use a wholesaler instead of selling your goods directly to the public. Think about 17 states being “Alcohol Control States,” where the government directly controls the sale of alcohol to some extent.
What do these all have in common? These are all legislative efforts aimed at controlling you. You are not free to make your own decisions, the state will do that for you. The state is assuming you will bow down and give up, that you will be afraid and dependent. We must stand above this collectivist attitude. We must not forsake individualism and freedom on account of fear. This point is highlighted in Eric Hoffer’s book The True Believer (pp35-36):
“Freedom aggravates at least as much as it alleviates frustration. Freedom of choice places the whole blame of failure on the shoulders of the individual. And as freedom encourages a multiplicity of attempts, it unavoidably multiplies failure and frustration. Freedom alleviates frustration by making available the palliatives of action, movement, change and protest.”
No excuses, this is a good thing: this is how we learn and grow. Again from the Hoffer book: the alternative to this is to join “a mass movement to escape individual responsibility…to be free from freedom.” There is nothing more terrifying than that.
Creating a culture of dependency and fear is not a one step process.
So I ask, again, for you to think about where in the hell your personal freedom went?
Think about your independence.
Just be sure to stand your ass up for the national anthem. […we’re watching…]
