We Don't Live In A Free Country

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-Benjamin Franklin 


Definition of "free": not bound or confined by force

We grew up believing that we lived in free countries.  Being free left people alone to do great things. Most of us prefer not being told what to do, and don't want our governments telling us what to do.

There is a striking picture that shows the difference between a relatively "free" country and a country that has an all-powerful government.  A look at Korea's lights at night shows us the difference in prosperity between free and not.

China, North Korea, and South Korea at night

The countries of the West are moving towards the darkness that is North Korea.  We keep passing laws that give us rules and regulations that cover every aspect of our lives.  The U.S. Code, if printed on paper, is more than 300,000 pages long.

Would a country "not bound or confined by force" need 300,00 pages of rules and regulations telling us what we can and cannot do, and when, where, how, and how much of it we can do?

A recent experience in my life (described below) brings up the issue of government interference with our cars.

There are a multitude of laws covering every aspect of the creation, design, sales, and use of all cars in the United States, and in other "free countries."  Here is an example laws in which it requires a certain part, a catalytic converter, must be installed on all cars in the U.S.  That is just one example.  There are laws about seat belts. There are laws about airbags.  There are laws about headlights.  There are laws about wheels.  There are laws about gas consumption. etc. etc. etc.

Imagine that you are trying to build your own cars for sale.   It would take forever just to read all of the thousands, if not more, rules about what you can and cannot, and when, and where...    ...you can make cars.  This is a significant deterrent from becoming a car manufacturer.  And it is not the way that a truly "free" country would operate.

***

Last Thursday I was on my way deer hunting.  A government thug police officer asshole pulled me over for not having a license plate on the front of my car.

Let me quote, I believe word for word, part of our exchange:

Me: "This car is 10 years old, It has 120,000 miles on it.  Why is today the first time that I have been pulled over for this?"

Asshole: "Other cops don't care.  But I'm an asshole."

You see, here in this "free country" I am required (definition:to impose a compulsion or command on) to have a government issued number on the front of my car. Potentially I could commit a crime and having that government issued ID tag on the front and back of my car would make it easier for the government thugs police officers assholes to find me.  It will also make putting cameras on streets more effective because I could be identified by a picture.

Incidentally, two guys I know have gotten tickets in the mail because a traffic camera found them making a "right on red."  WTF!

I like the look of my car.  It looks like this:

Nissan 350z

Every day I go out to my car, I think to myself, "I get to drive this!  How cool is that?"

Now that this asshole has decided that I must deface it, what I'm going to see once I follow the rules like a good little sheep peasant government revenue creator citizen, is this:

Are you going to feel safer once I have my government issued ID number on the front, as well as the back, of my car?

Since having ID numbers on the front of things makes us safer, or at least makes the government thugs' police officers' assholes' jobs easier when they are looking to solve crimes (They won't have to bother looking for the numbers on the back of the items, so they will save some effort.), why not add government issued identification numbers to front of other things as well?  Paintings could be stolen.  And making a government thug police officer asshole look for the identification number at the back would be soooo much more work.

Gov't Approved Mona Lisa

Gov't Approved Starry Night

Wouldn't you feel so much safer?

Think of all of the crimes that we could solve if everything had a required government issued identification number on it!

If it saves only one life, then its worth it!

Support government issued identification numbers on everything, for the children!

***

You might say that having a front license plate is no big deal, everyone else has one.  But this is just one example of the government interfering with our lives; by requiring me to deface my car or "binding my actions by force".  (What was the definition of "freedom"?)

If I don't take time out of my life to comply with this infringement upon my freedom, then after my ten day allowance I will be issued a fine.  If I do not pay that fine, then I will have a warrant for my arrest.  If I resist arrest, then I could be killed by the government thugs police.

Tell me again about how we live in a "free" country.

A country where a victimless crime can result in government thugs murdering civilians.  If you step out of line on any one of a number of trivialities then the government can legally kill you.

How "free" are we?

***

You can argue that we are better off because all of our laws protect us from harm (you'd be wrong, and I'd despise you), but you cannot claim, in the presence of laws like these that we live in a "free country."