I’m a social conservative. I believe in upholding traditional standards of personal morality–financially, socially, and sexually. And yet I’m for having less governmental restrictions on behavior. Why is this? Because the unrestricted growth of make-law produces a thicket of regulations so vast and inconsistent that almost anyone is at any time in danger of prosecution. It is through well-intentioned restrictions on personal behavior that democratic and supposedly free societies are led down the path to lawless and arbitrary oppression.
If you think that’s an unfounded fear, take a look at this story. A seventy-year-old woman sold a goldfish to a fourteen-year-old kid and is now given a curfew of six p.m. for seven weeks, community service requirements totaling 120 hours, a $1,500 fine, and a tracking device for two months. She was caught selling this goldfish to a teenager who was induced by police to ‘sting’ her business. That’s right. A nation which spends 45% of the income of its subjects, er, citizens while simultaneously wracking up immense debt feels the need to go to great lengths to watch out for those evil goldfish-selling grandmother criminals.
The total cost of this operation to taxpayers: $30,000. That’s right. The equivalent of a year’s decent salary ripped out of the regular economy and a woman’s business possibly ruined because she sold what was essentially a piece of bait to a teenager.
That’s bizarre, costly, oppressive totalitarian nonsense. That’s one more reason I lean libertarian.
Disclaimer: That story is set in England, not the U.S. But it is an accurate demonstration of the sort of lunacy that continually goes on in any government which takes upon itself the task of making sure everyone makes good choices.
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why we like less law
I’m a social conservative. I believe in upholding traditional standards of personal morality–financially, socially, and sexually. And yet I’m for having less governmental restrictions on behavior. Why is this? Because the unrestricted growth of make-law produces a thicket of regulations so vast and inconsistent that almost anyone is at any time in danger of prosecution. It is through well-intentioned restrictions on personal behavior that democratic and supposedly free societies are led down the path to lawless and arbitrary oppression.
If you think that’s an unfounded fear, take a look at this story. A seventy-year-old woman sold a goldfish to a fourteen-year-old kid and is now given a curfew of six p.m. for seven weeks, community service requirements totaling 120 hours, a $1,500 fine, and a tracking device for two months. She was caught selling this goldfish to a teenager who was induced by police to ‘sting’ her business. That’s right. A nation which spends 45% of the income of its subjects, er, citizens while simultaneously wracking up immense debt feels the need to go to great lengths to watch out for those evil goldfish-selling grandmother criminals.
The total cost of this operation to taxpayers: $30,000. That’s right. The equivalent of a year’s decent salary ripped out of the regular economy and a woman’s business possibly ruined because she sold what was essentially a piece of bait to a teenager.
That’s bizarre, costly, oppressive totalitarian nonsense. That’s one more reason I lean libertarian.
Disclaimer: That story is set in England, not the U.S. But it is an accurate demonstration of the sort of lunacy that continually goes on in any government which takes upon itself the task of making sure everyone makes good choices.
Related Posts: