The portfolio of laws that American citizens are subject to seems to grow without bounds. Every year our congress drafts a new collection of laws to submit to the process of enactment. State legislatures, county and city governments all are able to add new rules and constraints on our degrees of freedom. As if that weren’t enough, people willingly move into convenant controlled communities where they sign away basic freedoms like the freedom to choose house paint or to leave the garage door open.
We are gradually fencing in all of the free space where conduct is unregulated. Our Nanny State leaders are scaring the bejeebers out of us through defense initiatives and dire warnings about what could happen if terrorists took an interest in disrupting industry and infrastructure.
Our town of 6,000 has to comply with Homeland Security requirements by fencing in the town water tank in a certain way. Some terrorist could poison the water. In fact, that fiend would probably be a psychotic local citizen bent on retribution, not a Shiite saboteur in sandals. Collectively, we are at much more risk from fellow citizens than from foreign bad guys. Perhaps that is the hidden agenda.
Citizens are turning over priceless freedom artifacts in exchange for promissory notes claiming to protect the bearer. Once we give up degrees of freedom in the conduct of our lives, we can never get them back. Govennment will not refund units of control. As we increase the complexity of our world through an ever increasing statutory web of control, we forfeit degrees of freedom. It is like a ratchet. You can click forward, but there is no going back.
New subject. Read Jim Kunstlers post “Reality Bites“.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
The future is certain. Every man woman and child will have a gps bracelet and headset video to track their every movement, hear their every word. They will be killed by laser satellites if they are deemed unworthy. Free men will be those who can afford not to be tracked.
At 30, you will be forced to enter the carousel for a chance at regeneration.
I have spoken.
I know you are not in Denver, but is the spider web of control that the DNC, Secret Service, FBI, Colorado/Denver police spread out to your humble berg? I pray not. Maybe we can compare notes after the RNC is done here in 2 weeks. 50,000 extra people for the convention – not including all the police from as far away as Milwaukee and the private security and the protestors, the bars staying open until 4 AM (the only law that the state legislature passed without any effort this last session was one that extended closing time for that week only), the 35W bridge is still closed, the Coast Guard will be patrolling the Mississippi…If it weren’t for the fact that my son will be in school that week, we’d be far, far away.
Thoughts on a recent trip through our neighbor to the north:
Strange! While going through airport security in Vancouver for a flight to Calgary, I was not required to take off my shoes. Then after going through US Customs in Calgary, I WAS required to remove them in order to clear security. Am I missing something here, or are Canadian citizens not as gullible as their US counterparts in thinking that we will repel any future terrorist attack by having people remove their shoes? Or for that matter, only carry 3 oz bottles of liquid. The last time I checked, and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t changed since, liquids do not set off metal detectors. In fact, and this is purely speculation, my wife forgot about some hand cream in her purse and did not want to lose it to Big Brother, oops TSA, so I theoretically put it in my pocket and walked through security.
In this fantasy, I was not whisked away to some dimly lit room and questioned ad nauseam about my intentions with said hand cream. Lucky for me, because I would’ve had to divulge my intention of taking over the world by putting mind controlling agents in hand cream and then passing it around the plane. After many flights, can you imagine how many people would be under my control???
Hi John, That’s right- You folks get the RNC. Denver-town has been busy providing the homeless with movie tickets so they have something to do other than panhandle. Downtown Denver will be somewhat of an Orwellian encampment next week. The Po’-leece are gearing up for some big time visibility. Some permits for protests have been issued, but I get the sense that Denver prefers orderliness over sign waving and shouting. I think that some folks want to mix it up a bit. It’ll be interesting to watch.
Down the hall … So, you’ve become a smuggler. A hand cream mule. Tsk tsk. My dear professor. How has it come to this?
I believe in strongly in the words of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
That’s seems to indicate to me that it’s not negotiable. But hey, maybe I understood it wrong. I’m sure someone in GWB’s office is looking hard at the statement to make sure we all know what liberty and death officially mean. We wouldn’t want people getting ideas, would we?
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