Freedom Lost

Townhall.com ^ | January 12, 2013 | Bill O'Reilly

[Kaslin]

If you see Kris Kristofferson around, please tell him thanks for writing the line "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" in his song "Me and Bobby McGee." That thought is sage and very appropriate for America in the year 2013.

In California, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law an astounding 876 new mandates. They all took effect last week. Now, in the Golden State, you cannot do the following:

--Hunt a bear using trained dogs. Untrained canines are OK, I guess. And how would the authorities be able to tell? Would the dog have to take a test in the forest?

--Sit in an off-road vehicle without being in a seat. You can't sit on the floor or on the roof. Do off-road vehicles even have roofs? I don't know.

--Use a boat in a "freshwater body" without paying a separate fee. The purpose of the fee is to raise money to control the influx of "invasive mussels." I thought that was a 1950s monster movie.

--Drive a party bus without a special license. Can't wait to see that test. "Do you know the words to 'Celebration' by Kool and the Gang?"

The list of new laws is almost endless, and it is clear that Brown and the California legislature have been very busy thinking up ways to control every aspect of people's lives. And that is what's basically happening throughout this country. Politicians, some of them well-meaning, are trying to legislate everything.

New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't want us to be chubby, so he's trying to ban soft drinks in large cups. If a child rides his bike, he often looks like a Roman gladiator with all the protective gear. Drive through a yellow light, and you may be ticketed thanks to a camera tied to a pole. Everybody's watching everything -- and then sending it out to the world via technology.

The more laws that governments pass the less individual freedom there is. Any student of history will tell you that. Totalitarian countries ban pretty much everything. The Taliban whipped people in public for dancing. Mao would execute you for saying a prayer. Hitler would send you to a concentration camp if he thought you were gay.

We Americans need to stop this nanny state stuff. Reasonable protections are fine. It should be a crime to text while driving. But in California it is now against the law to park at a broken meter for more time than you could if said meter were working. I can just see the cops standing there with a stopwatch.

I consider myself a law-abiding person. But I'm exhausted. I don't know where to put the bottles, newspapers, cans and other stuff for garbage pickup outside my house. The rules are so thick you need someone from MIT to explain them.

So here's my pitch to Brown and other elected officials: Relax. The bears will be fine. The mussels will invade no matter what you do. The parking meter deal isn't important.

[ronnie raygun]

The defect is visual, like most

[KGeorge]

A *party* bus? I’m not even going to say it...
(I’ve come to the conclusion that politicians need to get a life- their *own* life, & we need to stop enabling them)

[Luke21]

Kristofferson played the patriot in the 80’s movie Amerika, where the US became the Soviet Union. Ironic.

[EnigmaPrime]

Actually, invasive species can be a real problem. Kudzu is only the least of it - there‘s a Japanese plant called giant hogweed that would mess with California's farmers something fierce.

https://www.gov.uk/japanese-knotweed-giant-hogweed-and-other-invasive-plants

Years ago, freighters would come up rivers and secretly purge their bilges underway, depositing all sorts of shellfish and other larvae. Some of which may be parasitic for freshwater fish. Say goodbye to your fresh pan-fried trout...

You‘re right to suspect Gov. Brown‘s motives, but he‘s not always wrong. What‘s too often lacking is substantive public debate and comment for all such regulations. Such as those amazing ‘Presidential findings’...

[Terry Mross]

Kristoferson played a patriot? I didn’t think he was that good of an actor. He’s a full blown socialist.

Waylon Jennings almost kicked his ass for mouthing off on stage when The Highwaymen were performing. Waylon said you can have any oppinion you want but don’t spew them when there are three others on stage. Of course, at least one of the three agreed with Kris.

[marsh2]

I was told bear hunters were going to Sacramento and letting their dogs loose. They have no other purpose than for hunting and are not pets, so they can’t afford to keep them and don’t want to flood their local county facilities.