We have heard the refrain many times, ”if this legislation (or rule) can save just one life, it will be worth it.” Bull! Do-gooder legislation, regulations and rules can rarely be empirically identified as saving lives, but they always lead to more restrictions and oppression. If our political leaders and their bureaucratic toadies were serious about wanting to protect and improve our lives, they would get out of the way and allow the ingenuity of the American people discover the keys to happiness, prosperity and contentment. All government at any level can deliver with consistency is red tape and nonsensical bureaucratic mazes. Besides….government’s mandate is to protect life….not to insulate it from all potential harm. One could argue that unfulfilled expectations can be psychologically harmful so government may actually be harming our citizens while claiming to protect them.
If politicians and cubicle-bound bureaucrats were really interested in protecting the American people from harm, they would enact two critical laws: They would ban “stupid,” and they would require that every adult in the nation be armed. Obviously, banning stupidity is problematic, but so many harmful outcomes are the result of stupid actions by the person who was injured or killed. Banning stupidity will NOT eliminate stupid behavior. Government would not deterred, however because they ban or forbid any number of things that occur despite their Nanny-like intervention. Also banning stupidity would mean that the entire political and bureaucratic apparatus of the nation would be forced to resign….unless they’re too stupid to understand that they are monumentally stupid, or…as usual they exempt themselves from legislation or rules that oppress the rest of us.
Requiring adult citizens to be armed (except for those who have been legally or clinically judged as dangerous) would generate a sense of security. Bad guys and bad girls might be less willing to accost and harm innocent citizens if they KNEW that a .38, .40 or .45 could be on the scene in a flash without the necessity for a 911 call. One of my favorite quotes is a line by author Robert Heinlein, “An armed society is a polite society.” Obviously neither of these two proposals has a snowball’s chance of adoption, but that nugget alone should illustrate how governments’ protective benevolence is a scam. Their effort to wrap us with cocoons merely restrains our arms and our movements so that we are unable to ward off danger when it approaches. Too often government protection evolves into our becoming complacent and unaware. The false security provided by grandiose programs and public relations campaigns lulls us into an artificial sense of safety……as we willingly sacrifice a little more of our liberty.
With a population of roughly 310 million people in the United States it is folly to assume that the government can protect all of us or a significant number of us from each and every unique potential danger. The bureaucrats and their misfit legislative enablers create and generate a myriad of laws, rules and regulations which may or may not enhance our individual personal safety, but they do dramatically interfere with and impede our commerce and our daily living. Their yeomen’s efforts to protect us end up confusing us, and any bureaucrat worth his daily salt should be aware that confused and disoriented people are more susceptible to danger and injury. In essence, the massive undertaking by our governments at all levels to limit our exposure to harm have created an environment that lulls us into a sense of well-being while danger still stalks us, and they have constructed a maze of red tape and prohibitions that lies in wait to trip us and entangle us.
The Nanny State has gradually transformed our nation from a collection of rugged, self-reliant individuals into a whimpering population of National Assisted-Living residents. If we do not stop them, and reverse the trend and undo the damage, we will become prisoners of the total-care state apparatus….just when the disintegration of the overspending, fiscally irresponsible government occurs. Just when our self reliance and strength are most needed for our survival, our skill set will have atrophied. Timing is everything.
Comment: cearlwriting@hotmail.com
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