A Free Society - No More!

Phyllis Deroian

It is very difficult for many Americans to understand that when we succumb to laws that govern the way we go about our daily lives, we allow the State to adopt the attitude of overbearing parents. We become dependent children and lose the ability to discern. We absorb the status quo arguments and spew them out of our mouths without picking them apart to see if they have merit.

Our forefathers were passionate about their desire to create a new nation, unlike any that went before, where citizens were truly free. They believed that people should govern themselves, and their plan was to keep government close to the people. Thus, we didn’t become the country of America; we became the United States of America. Each of the thirteen original colonies wanted to keep their individuality and to take care of their own citizens. They also believed the purpose of government is to protect its citizens, not have power over them. Some laws that control the things that are out of our reach are necessary and in line with the plan, but above all individual freedoms are to be safeguarded. States like New Mexico and Wyoming, who have part time legislatures, are far more efficient. They meet so infrequently, they don’t have time to consider anything but the most pressing issues.

In New Jersey, the top-down control of citizens from the Governor to local taxpayer is an incredibly tangled web that will take extraordinary means to fix. Take, for instance the Department of Labor’s office of Unemployment Programs, made up of call-in centers, walk-in centers and re-employment centers, none of whom seem to converse with each other. If the call-in center requires documents, they must be brought to the walk-in center where they are to be faxed on fax machines run by the re-employment center, located in the same office, but only after you fill out an application because the re-employment centers are not connected to the walk-in centers and therefore don’t have access to the application already on file across the room……….!?

The hefty property taxes homeowners are forced to pay in too many states, sponsor Government lifestyles that are out of control. The New Jersey legislature has before it three constitutional amendments that are meant to return collected tax money back to the towns from where it came. However, the amendments don’t force the town officials to redirect the money to the homeowner. Capping municipal spending might result in a reduction of property taxes, but it will be small relief from the financial burden of homeownership because the municipal, county and state bills still have to be paid.

Add to that the new insecurity the Supreme Court placed on home owners with their recent eminent domain ruling and the all-time American dream is fast becoming the American nightmare. The Supreme Court’s ruling that a municipality or State can take an individual’s property for public “good,” rather than only for public “use,” has brought to the surface the distrust most citizens have for their municipal elected and non elected leaders. It is understandable because local governments, the places closest to the voters, have become bureaucracies in their own right.

For instance, every town in just about ever state has a zoning board whose members are appointed, not elected. Why were zoning boards originally formed and how have they changed? They certainly weren’t formed to determine the size or shape of our homes. Grown so out of proportion township residents find themselves pleading for the right to put an addition on their own home, or to add a garage, or in some cases decisions on landscaping and fencing must be presented to the Board. Beyond these boards, homeowners associations have risen up to collect dues and turn housing developments into communes where the, “for the good of all,” mantra is freely espoused even though it closely resembles the mantra of socialism.

Filing and begging have become popular sports. If you purchase a new car and want an airbag disconnected, you must ask for written permission from your local police. Fishermen must ask permission to fish. In beautiful Maine with its miles of coastline, a license is required in all open water. In New Jersey a license is only required for stream or lake fishing, but that applies even if you own the lake. A married couple with two cars and a dog have applied for a minimum of six licenses or registrations. Private charities need permission to raffle grandma’s quilt. And the list goes on, making it necessary for us to ask permission of someone somewhere before we can implement decisions we have made about how or where we want to live. These permission requests bring the burden of filing forms, paying fees, taking time from work or family to go before boards or police with hat in hand.

We live under many burdensome laws have been fed to us with a spoonful of sugar so that when passed, we felt good about them. Child safety seat laws are a good example for who can be against child safety. But, when States were contemplating this legislation, there was an unwritten assumption in the language of the bill: that it is impossible to teach parents the safest way to buckle up their children and that without forcing parents to protect their children they will opt to be careless. The California legislature so much believed this that they tagged a $1,000 fine for children who are found unbelted or improperly belted. The fine, they believe is the deterrent, not the child’s safety.

No matter how the argument is couched, few Americans would see seat belt laws as bad. Few saw the danger Memorial Day weekend on Kenilworth’s Boulevard in NJ where three or four uniformed police officers set up a road block to check for seatbelts. Subjecting American citizens to a roadblock to enforce a seatbelt law is outrageous, yet there were no complaints. We force bicyclists to wear helmets and make it illegal for pedestrians to cross the street against the red light. What is lost when arguing that the law is unnecessary is the fact that the same Americans who argue for the law are those that understand the safety of a seat belt and would buckle up with or without a law and those that don’t, won’t.

The spoonful of sugar is fed to us through the media and those who would use the media, such as special interest lobby groups or perhaps an individual who suffered a tragedy and demands a law to protect others, such as the hot dog labeling bill introduced in Congress last year. Insurance companies and frivolous lawsuits are factors that also come into the mix. Each of the above has an agenda of some kind that wants to bring the average citizen into the fold, wants to force every citizen within their realm to obey what they deem the proper behavior. Some are understandable but most are as frivolous as the lawsuits that prompt them.

Simultaneously, our right to privacy is being taken away just as simply as our freedoms. The number of ways our government can now keep track of us is incredible. The private information our government has allowed corporations to gather about us is frightening.
Social security numbers have long been used as a means of identification but now cell phone companies, stores and banks are requiring a driver’s license. Most people just hand it over. We register our guns, our cars, our boats and even our children because we believe it is for our protection. Every once in a while the concept of a national ID card comes up in open discussion and it is being sold to us as a protective service, not a tracking device. If we have social security numbers and passports and driver licenses, why else do we need federal ID cards? Will there be a day when we are expected to show them at roadblocks and will we then see the danger?

Sadly, the concept of individual freedom as the American dream is lost because so many Americans have forgotten what it means to be truly free. Inch by inch, one protective law after another, the very idea of a free nation is becoming obscure. If it is the responsibility of our Government to protect us, then our government has failed for we are not safer, just more regulated. Asbestos is dangerous around our homes, but State and Federal regulations make it almost impossible to remove and dispose of it. Our children are belted and helmeted but playgrounds are not safe even in the most exclusive neighborhoods.

It is the responsibility of all Americans to be watchdogs for their own freedoms. If our government becomes oppressive then it is we who have allowed ourselves to be oppressed because we have demanded that we be cared for in places where we should be caring for ourselves. If we cry to our legislators for laws that force us to do the things our common sense tells us to do, we can only blame ourselves when we feel the pressure of dictatorial regulations. If we turn to the courts for decisions out of their realm, then we cannot complain when we see our Constitution shred apart. When Americans go back to the idea that freedom is the first most important thing a government can give us, then we can start putting the role of government into perspective.