| (April Newsletter 2003 - 5) Just the number of laws one would have to familiarize themselves with in order to become adequately knowledgeable makes the task near impossible. Why, we would all have to go law school just to get to a proper starting point of understanding the law. Last year, in North Carolina alone, 519 new laws were passed by the General Assembly. Sixty new laws took affect in the Old North State on January 1st of this year. Add these to the tens of thousands of laws already on the books and you begin to see the enormity of the endeavor to properly understand justice and how its principles are to be applied. And that is just in one state, folks’. I wonder how many “new” laws have been instituted where you live this year? Still skeptical? Take an afternoon and go to the nearest law library. Even the name “law library” should send a chill down any thinking persons spine. I am not talking about a corner of your local public library where you’ll find a shelf or two stocked with reference books about a particular subject. No, I mean a whole library devoted to cataloging all the things you and I are not allowed to do. Whole rooms filled wall-to-wall and floor–to-ceiling with a seemingly endless array of laws, statutes, and regulations. Shelf next to shelf, volume upon volume, and page after page, creating a twisting, turning maze of decisions, rulings and appeals. This is where you go when you seek comprehension of the chains that fetter your pursuit of happiness. Have a seat and look around at what you must learn if you really want to be an honest, up-standing, law-abiding citizen. Government has simply made it to easy to break the law for us not to be criminals. I mean, you are required to have a license to do practically everything. That means that you must go to a bureaucrat somewhere and ask their permission before you proceed or you become a criminal. If you want to drive to work, you must first have a paper from the State that says you are allowed to operate a motor vehicle. If you want to improve your home, you are required to go downtown and stand before elected rulers and beg their indulgence so that you can add that patio or finish your basement. If you want to get a job to support your family, you cannot do so without a number supplied by the bene-volent nannies that soil the seats of CONgress. How long does this have to be before you realize that if you have to ask permission do everything, not only will you eventually slip up and become a criminal, but you have also ceased to be free? With every new law enacted another piece of liberty dies. Perhaps nothing exemplifies my point more so than a personal experience I had about 6 or 7 years ago. I was invited by a friend to accompany him on a fishing expedition to one of the local lakes owned by the county where we both reside. Being the careful individual that I am, I researched the laws concerning wildlife management, as well as, the regulations adopted by the county. I found that if I only fished using live bait, the law did not require that I obtain a fishing license as long as I remained in the county of my residence. I was very pleased with myself that I had found a way to save a few bucks on what promised to be an enjoyable outing. However, the day was not to go unspoiled. Not long after we launched our boat and found what we thought looked like a promising spot, we were approached by a game warden. I remained unconcern-ed as we chatted and I proudly showed him that I was only using live bait and therefore required no state sanction. He asked for proof of my residence, which I supplied via business cards and a recent tax bill that I was going to pay on my way home. It was then that he informed me that I was in violation of state law. I was beginning to protest that I was in full compliance of the wildlife management code when the warden told me he was not referring to the wildlife code. It was then that I learned I was in violation of state law for appearing in public and not possessing a picture ID. At that moment, the veil was lifted from my eyes as my day of personal enlightened dawned. I realized that every time I set foot off my own property, I became a criminal. I violate the law each and every time I take a leisurely stroll around my neighborhood. In almost half a century on this earth, I have never been arrested, much less convicted of a crime; and yet, all I have to do to become a criminal in the eyes of the State is leave home. Why? Because I do not have a snapshot of myself (taken by a state-sanctioned bureaucrat) in my pocket when I go out in public. I must ask you, am I really free? Are you really free? Are your papers in order? Are you a criminal? There are laws regulating everything from what color you can and cannot paint your house to what kind of sex in which two consenting adults are allowed to engage. Why is it like this? Crime is big business, that why. In fact, crime is government’s biggest industry. Surprised to see me say that? It really isn’t all that odd when you consider that the State derives revenue on both sides of the law. Remember, all those licenses and permits you are required to obtain are accompanied by fees. While on the flip side, every breach of the never-ending, self-perpetuating, always growing bureaucracy carries a fine. You are forced to pay in order to abide by the laws so you can avoid having to pay for breaking the law. Therefore, as the beast has grown, it has become the State’s own self-interest that drives legislators to constantly search for new sources of revenue. That’s why 519 laws were passed in my home state last year. That is why 500 new laws will probably be passed this year, and again next year, and again the year after that. The only way a government can realize grater income that it does today is either by accelerating tax increases; or, by creating new ways for us to become criminals and providing the appropriately priced bounties required to avoid becoming criminals. So you see, every new law not only nibbles away at your freedom while further gorging an already bloated beast Bureaucracy, it also becomes a new source of revenue for the state. So we are left with the question, “what can be done about it?” Take my advice, do yourself a favor and educate yourself. Do a little digging and find out all the different options made available to you, by your friends in government, before becoming a criminal. Then perhaps we will see the emergence of what is needed to reverse the encroachment of the law-Reform. You have to get fed up with the foolishness of endless legislation and so something. Run for public office as a truly reform-minded candidate, or support such candidates wherever they can be found. |
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