It is troubling to observe how governments react to a citizenry exercising the birthright of independence, a personal independence that once upon a time was unquestioned as the backbone of America.
After all, vote-seeking pols have a vested interest in truncating freedom and traducing “rugged individualism” in order to be the almighty almsgivers to the “collective” in pursuit of the Dependent States of America.
The thought of independence sends many government officials into an absolute regulatory tizzy. And we see it on an almost daily basis as we attempt to simplify and reclaim our lives.
Think of the hints of new restrictions on the “locavore” movement –the effort to locally grow, raise and privately share what we consume.
Think of dubious restrictions that can serve as de facto bans on, say, the keeping of chickens or bees.
Then there are the crackdowns on those engaged in the more organized “sharing economy” — think Uber, Lyft and Airbnb, among many others.
Surely, you can cite odoriferous examples of your own. But governments at every level can’t seem to get a grip on the resurgence of people retaking control of their lives or pursuing self-interests that, based on free-market principles, have the “audacity” to serve the greater good.
For too many in government, the threat is manifest. After all, fewer rules and regulations and prohibitions mean the need for fewer bureaucrats. And one is forced to wonder how long it will be before government seeks to control even the simplest joys of life.
Think of such things as sharing the fruits of our gardens, the breads that we bake and the soups that we simmer — things that can go such a long way in making our neighborhoods real neighborhoods again.
Yes, we need government, of course. But we need far less of it than government ever will concede.
Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect our liberty when the government claims its purposes are “beneficent,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis in 1928.
That government, in so many facets and at all levels, continues to ply such “beneficence” should make us more on guard than ever and en garde as well.
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
