A reminder: what we owe government

As we near the end of the year AD 2024 (but continue to live in AL 248), let us look again at what huge amount of freedom we have in these Fifty States – provided that we beg one or more governments to let us enjoy that liberty.

As Tom Knapp recently pointed out in a comment on a recent commentary, the one thing that we do NOT owe government is the money that they steal from us in the form of income taxes, excise and sales and service taxes, and all the other ways we are robbed blind. No, we owe government a lot more.

This is an old graphic but worth looking at and discussing:

Keep in mind that this is a generic, 50-State version. Still, it is a dozen – even a Baker’s Dozen with the last point in white. Some (or possibly all of these) may not be true in certain American States. Fortunately, because we still live with a remnant of a federation established with a federal system and limited government, there are exceptions. Let’s go through the list.

1. Build (or repair) a house: There are, for example, a few places (counties, not States) where you don’t have to have a permit to build a house. Not many, but some. Of course, in a lot of places, you have to even ask permission to tear down a house, put a new roof on a house (even if it is just repair after a windstorm), or replace a broken window!
2. Drive a car: We tend to forget (or never knew) that in some States, there was no requirement for you as a private driver in a private vehicle to have a Driver’s License within the lifetime of many people still alive today. (For example, Colorado did not require that until 1955.)
3. Go fishing: If you have a private pond that is not directly connected to any creek or “waters of the State” you may not need a fishing license. But still may be ordered to get one and fined for not having one. We think you might be able to fish out on the ocean outside the three-mile (or twelve-mile, or maybe 200-mile) limit without one – unless you have a guide or it is for “commercial use.”
4. Collect rain water: Why should you need a government permit slip to save rain water off your roof? Well, you certainly do in Colorado, to our personal knowledge, and apparently in many other states with low annual precipitation, because you are not letting that water flow downstream or soak into the ground! The State thinks it belongs to them, not you.
5. Hunting is tightly regulated by the various States, with the excuse that otherwise the population of wild game animals would be driven to extinction. (The examples are always the American bison, the passenger pigeon, and the dodo.) But the concept quickly becomes a political football, and regulation (as with guns themselves) becomes a means of prohibition.
6. Cross the road – or street, maybe: Yes. In many places jaywalking is a crime – or at least a “traffic violation.”
7. Get married: There are States that accept either “common law marriages” and/or marriages without a marriage license: if you had a marriage ceremony and a certificate (not the same as a license). But most do require that blood test and fee and filing. And some (like Hawai’i) even require that the people officiating at a marriage ceremony (and/or signing the license) have to be licensed themselves to marry people!
8. Leave the country: Try it – and try to get back in without that government-issued (and owned) card or booklet. No other country will let us in, and of course, the Feds would not let us back here. The question is, as one novel features, when will we not be able to go from one State to another without permission? (Some of us will argue differently: that driver’s licenses are that de facto permission slip.
9. Start a business. Oh, you can start one most places, if you are doing nothing more than providing labor and some (limited) handmade products. But… no bank account or accepting credit cards without guvmint permission. More and more professions and services require beaucoup permission slips: licenses and registrations and permits.
10. Fly on a commercial plane – not fly one (or a “commercial” drone) just be a passenger. Again, we are dealing with that government-issued drivers license or ID card. AND whether or not your name is on some list or not.
11. Take drugs: No, not recreational drugs, but virtually every other kind that are intended (or claimed) to help us get or stay healthy and breathing regularly. These days, you can’t even get drugs for your horse, dog, or cat, without a permission slip from a health care guy or gal with a guvmint-granted permission slip to practice.
12. Work – just plain work! SSAN? Address? Valid bank account? Background check – all done either by government-written and enforced rules or actually by government agencies. Corrupt government agencies. The one possible exception is if you are a border jumper and are willing to lie and cheat and steal yourself. And can avoid the ever-increasing patrols.
13. The V-for-Vendetta graphic has only 12, but we’ll make this a Baker’s Dozen by pointing out that each and every year – perhaps every month – one or more governments add something else to the list of things you cannot do without their permission. Want to feed a homeless person? Fat chance in more and more place. Want to let your kids play in your own front yard while you aren’t hovering over them? Want to help people by collecting old clothing and furniture and fix them up and give to someone in need? Want to pass out Bibles or sing hymns on the street? More and more, these are controlled, regulated, and often prohibited by government.

What doesn’t require government permission? Based on the above list, rebellion seems to be the one thing not requiring permission.

Think about it.

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