Think you know best how to run your life? Nope.
Turns out, you're too dumb to control your own destiny. That's the message of the Nanny State, as revealed by its various laws, prohibitions, regulations, bans, ordinances, statutes, guidelines, policies, and so forth. We have smoking bans, drug laws, seatbelt laws, laws against gambling, laws regulating gun ownership, and on and on. We have these laws in place to protect you from your own freedom. After all, freedom is too dangerous to be entrusted to you.
I know what you're thinking: don't we need these laws to protect "society"? Well, what is society other than a bunch of people? Society is not a living, breathing person. Ayn Rand once made the point that when you say something is in "the public interest," what you're really saying is that the interests of some matter more than the interests of others.
So what "society" are we protecting by banning drugs? By requiring people to license guns before they've done anything wrong (sort of like prior restraint with newspapers)? By telling private businesses they can no longer allow smoking in their restaurants? You're obviously not protecting those who wish to be free to put drugs into the bodies they own. You're not protecting the wishes and interests of the land owners - you know, the people who own the business (i.e., not you). You're not protecting innocent citizens who wish to own a gun for protection and who have done nothing wrong. Whose interests are we protecting? What "society" is at stake?
These sorts of laws are borne out of contempt for the individual. They convey the clear message, held by every statist, that you don't own your life. We're told this is a nation predicated on equal rights. But if someone can tell you what to do with your life, contrary to what you wish to do with your life, then that means some men are "more equal" than others. We don't have Two Americas, the rich and the poor; we have Two Americas, the governed and those who govern.
Smoking bans are especially evil. Those who hate smoking claim there are many people out there who would love to go to a smoke-free establishment, but "can't." If there are so many anti-smokers like this, why is there not more of a market for smoke-free places? The anti-smokers are not content to let their worldview compete in the open market. No, no. They'd much rather get the government to come in, stick a gun in your face, and order you to go by their wishes (that's what all government law is, boiled down). Rather than peacefully negotiate with restaurant and bar owners to ask them to go smoke-free, they'd much rather come in by force and impose their morality. That alone should demonstrate statists' contempt for the rights of individuals.
Even though we’re too stupid to run our own lives, interestingly enough, we can trust you to vote for the right people who will be your overlords. Isn't it great? You're too much of an idiot to know what's best for you, but somehow, you are smart enough to be able to select someone else to do it for you.
So sit back, don't lift a finger, and let the precious Nanny State take care of you. Doesn't that feel better than trying to live your own life?
Comments
Kris:
Excellent post!
Another way of putting it is the difference between settling for being a child (who else requires a nanny) instead of growing up and becoming an adult, capable of setting the course for ones own life, providing for one's own needs and accepting responsibility for the choices one makes.
Unfortunately, we have created a culture where the fear of responsibility causes the majority of people to cower, hiding as anonymous members of some group or another, rather than being willing to proudly stand as a sovereign individuals.
Having fought for our right to independence, the Founding Fathers of this country would be ashamed of what we have become.
Regards,
--
C. Jeffery Small
Thanks for reading, Jeffery. You make a great point about our culture. The problem is, those in our society who don't wish to take personal responsibility or who want to tell other people how to live have a convenient mechanism for imposing their views on others: democratic government. Thanks to the cursed advent of democracy, the majority can tell the minority how to live, and can make us all slaves to the Nanny State.
And it's easy to avoid responsibility when government enables recklessness. Perfect illustration: the bailouts. Used to be that our market entailed risk and potential failure. This, of course, was balanced by the possibility that the market would reward your risk. But not everyone was supposed to succeed, and the genius of the market would weed out the failures. No longer is this true. Government now subsidizes the same failure and, ultimately, irresponsibility that got us into the current economic recession.
Hopefully one day this will change!
Second hand smoke is 98% water vapor! The anti-smoking profiteers have made people believe that they can drop dead from water vapor! Too bad smokers don't have social engineers to make people believe they can drop dead from anti-smokers perfumes or their passing gas, to de-normalize THEM! It would be nice to turn the tables on them for once!
The big problem is that most people don't know is that everything you mention is profit motivated. In the case of the seat belt laws it was the insurance industry that lobbied for it. In the case of the smoking bans, it was big Pharma. For more information go to Ban the Ban Wisconsin.
Thank you Kris for a great post. I fear it is going to get a lot worse, before something has to give.
I feel like we are being run by Drug companies and charities in the UK. The government have more tentacles than an octopus (lobby groups).
Is it unchristian to wish these yahoos would run free?
I always saw the ten commandments as warnings
vis-a vis....sleep with a mans wife...he might kill you!
steal someones stuff...get yourself offed!
This police state stuff seems like run away Christianity!
Ive devised various penal colonies...crackhead island...my own private siberia!
I hate the drunk driving laws too...let them run over someone with a gun....if a drunk hit me...I might beat him severally if I can get out of the car....so why all these laws?
I want to see that film, deathwish
Yes, the courts destroy the families of drunks...for money.
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