The Liberal/Socialist Alternatives

Select Just One: Prohibited or Mandatory

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, WITH CHUCK ORMSBY

 

 By: Dr. Charles Ormsby – January, 2010 

“The trouble with government regulation of the market is that it prohibits capitalistic acts between consenting adults.” – Robert Nozick 

Are you tired of being a slave? 

What did you say? You’re not a slave? How can you tell?

Can you own a home without paying a tithe every quarter to the local constables? And if you don’t pay it, can they take your home away from you and dump you and your family in the street?

Can you be compensated for your labor without wetting the government’s beak? If you don’t pay up, will you be dragged off to prison by the IRS?

Maybe you excuse these acts of outright theft because you believe they are imposed as part of some justifiable civic duty – a price you must pay for living in a civilized society. OK. We could debate both the method of collection and the amounts, but let’s assume you have rationalized your abdication to government.

Now that you have consented to having the government’s hand in your pocket, don’t you think that is enough? Having taken 40% or more of your income every year, shouldn’t it just leave you alone? 

Shouldn’t government let you decide how to live, what to buy, what not to buy, who you will conduct business with, the nature of your business, what to eat, where and how you educate your children, etc.? 

But liberals are not content to take 40% or more of your income and decide for you how it should be spent. They also want to control the rest of your life and your remaining resources. What you have left isn’t yours if you cannot decide what to do with it. 

The one thing liberals/socialists can’t stand is for lowly citizens, like you and me, to decide anything for ourselves. They know everything better than we do and it is about time we appreciate their brilliance.

Do you want to sit in your home with friends after work and play poker? PROHIBITED!

Is it OK to drive an automobile without a seatbelt or ride a motorcycle/bicycle without a helmet? Nope, PROHIBITED!

Can we buy a high-deductible, major medical policy that leaves routine doctor bills to be paid out of pocket? PROHIBITED!

How about negotiating medical insurance coverage based on our needs and having the price based on the coverage selected and our particular circumstances? No, No, No … That would be PROHIBITED! Even if you are a single male you MUST have coverage for pregnancy and breast/uterine cancer. Brilliant! 

Can we opt out of Social Security and save for retirement in our own way? Absolutely not! That’s PROHIBITED!

Would you like to offer or accept a job based on pay and conditions that you and your employee/employer agree upon? No! VERBOTEN!! There are the mandatory minimum wages, overtime regulations, minimum benefits, termination requirements, mandatory holidays to take into account. Oh, and if you are the employer, it is MANDATORY that you do the government’s dirty work and extract, account for, and submit your employees’ income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. Are you compensated for performing this MANDATORY task? What’s your best guess?

Can you build a house of your own design and with materials of your choosing? No. The government has MANDATED minimum requirements for windows, doors, acreage, electrical service, etc. Also, you must build only with government approved materials; heat with government recommended fuel; use government approved insulation; and on and on. 

You say you can’t afford a house because of all these requirements? Tough! You will just have to sleep under a bridge (yeah, that’s better!). 

At your struggling business, your workers ban together and want to force you to deal with them on their terms and prevent you from hiring willing/qualified workers outside their group. Do you have to deal with these thugs? Yes, it’s MANDATORY! You have no right to negotiate with or enter into a mutually beneficial employment relationship with anyone else.

Your current business is barely surviving because of these union/labor laws and onerous taxes, so you decide to start a new business: an airline service that offers greater security than competing airlines. Your plan, to arm pilots and put undercover guards on every flight, is effective, inexpensive and attractive to a substantial segment of the flying public. Surely this business will prosper! Can you do it? Nope, that’s PROHIBITED! 

You can’t start Terror-Proof Airlines, so you find yourself in need of a little extra income and you decide to get a second job. Unfortunately, local businesses and other prospective employers face the same regulatory burdens and confiscatory taxes as your struggling business and they are not hiring. 

To pay for food and rent you decide to offer taxi service with free snacks in your local community. Is that OK? No way! All of the allocated taxi medallions are assigned so you and those who would like to ride with you are out of luck! Not to mention that you would need a special license to serve food!

Of course, the government knows better than the market how many taxis there should be, what they should charge and what amenities can be offered. Providing taxi service without a medallion or at a different rate (higher or lower) is PROHIBITED! (Aside: The going rate for a single taxi medallion in NYC is currently over $750,000. And you wonder why you can’t get a cab and why it costs so much?)

As if all of this misfortune isn’t bad enough, your doctor tells you that you have terminal cancer and you will only live for 10 weeks. All the FDA-approved drugs prove ineffective and you begin the process of putting your affairs in order. Then you hear about an experimental drug (e.g., dichloroacetate or DCA) that shrinks human cancer tumors implanted in rats with no side effects. Human clinical trials are planned, but they will take years to complete by which time you will be pushing up daisies. 

After consulting with your doctor you decide that this unapproved drug is worth a try. Heck, its better than buying a tombstone! 

Can you do it? No! The FDA says that it is a PROHIBITED drug. The suggested government alternative is pain pills and the mortuary. Just die and shut up. 

The FDA bureaucrats know better than you or your doctor and they want to see the results of a decade-long, billion dollar study to determine efficacy and side effects before you can try it. (Aside: people are practicing civil disobedience with DCA. See www.theDCAsite.com.)

With liberals/socialists in charge of our government, your life will likely conclude as follows:

You’re driving home after your appointment with the funeral director and you feel hunger pains. Since you will be dead soon anyway, you decide that a monster burger with bacon and cheese, large fries, and a milk shake would cheer you up. You pull up to the window and hear, “Fagetaboutit! That’s PROHIBITED!”

As you swallow your FDA-approved boiled tofu dinner, you feel your life slipping from you. You contemplate transfering your meagre life savings and your struggling small business to your children. Surely, after paying all those taxes and putting up with countless regulations all your life and now having to die unneccesarily, they will let you do that! 

Unfortunately, your lawyer and accountant inform you that the liberals/socialists won’t permit it. Instead, your business will have to be sold and the proceeds used to pay your death taxes. (Aside: If you were planning on saving on taxes by dying in 2010, think again. The likelihood is that the estate tax will be reinstated with lower minimums and with higher rates retroactive to January 1st.)

The liberals/socialists often tell us how caring and compassionate they are … not to mention how smart they are. 

We are so lucky to have them do our thinking for us. Life is so much easier if everything is either PROHIBITED or MANDATORY. 

All we have to do is follow their rules … just like on the plantation! 

Happy New Year!!