Freedom is: the power or right to
act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It is the absence of subjection to foreign
domination or despotic government. It is the state of not being imprisoned or
enslaved physically, mentally or emotionally.
A
stark but trivial reminder of our loss of freedom is our willingness to buy
into the notion that governments know best and are good stewards of those
lauded inalienable right. One seemingly
innocuous event transformed my opinion of what real freedom is and how easy we
are letting it slip through our fingers, occurred yesterday.
I’ve
been working on restoring an old house near Cleveland, Ohio. One of the surrounding cities has some fairly
stringent policies toward home ownership and makes it a point of sale to
outline infractions that must be repaired in order for the owner of the
property to get a refund of a sizable fee placed with the city to ensure
compliance. I do understand the need for
oversight but this level of bureaucracy was staggering in its micromanagement.
In
order to set the stage for a clearer understanding of the situation let me
outline that the amount of work needed to get this house looking nice was
staggering. I don’t want to get into the details of what had to be done other
than to say this was not a weekend project by any means so when a guy shows up
to the house and asks for the owner, my first thought was that he was there to
sell me something.
The
exterior is getting ready to be painted and has already received its primer
coat. The windows and doors are all covered with plastic, the gutters have all
been removed for later replacement and the large construction bin in the
driveway makes this house a clear candidate as a remodel with very clear
intentions of making the once dilapidated eyesore into a jewel of the neighborhood. So when the guy shows and blatantly demands
that we cut the grass, I thought it was a joke.
First
off, I’m not from around here so random people telling me to do something is
probably not the best way to gain my confidence. Second
the obviousness of the situation was staggering in its simplicity yet this guy
failed to see the scope of project and was singularly focused on his
bureaucratic task, telling us that we were out of compliance with a city
ordinance and needed to cut the lawn.
Third, it’s been raining cats and dogs for over a week and little or no
mention of that reality came across in the man’s demands…
I
also reminded him of the amount of work progressing in trying to make this
house more presentable and that getting the grass cut was not that high on my
list of priorities at the moment but we would get to it soon. “It needs to be cut by Saturday” was his
stringent and curt reply.
So
like any good red blooded American I questioned his position and asked him “is
this what are taxes are paying for, sending a guy like you to tell me to cut my
grass?” I know this is not a hugely
important issue but it does illustrate the level of control that we have all allowed.
We
have succumbed to the tyrannical level of servitude when we allow others to
tell us what we can and cannot do, especially in such trivial matters as
maintaining the lawn. This point of
slavery is a real reminder of how far we’ve come in order to attempt to
maintain a civil and acceptable level of supposed freedom. More and more often people are literally
buying into tyranny. How many of you
live in an association?
In
this particular area the city is the association and has enacted rules that
everyone has to live by and on top of those rules is a usurious property tax
base that boggles the mind. Home
ownership is no longer a constitutional right and I suspect this city and
virtually every city and town has the power to impose penalties in the form of
liens if we refused to abide by their laws, putting the right of ownership in
jeopardy over something as trivial as not cutting the lawn, if that’s not
tyranny than what is?
What’s
most sad is the willingness most have to willfully accept those conditions and
the powers that oversee the minutia that we so often take for granted. We are selling our souls to the devil with
each blade of uncut grass the gentle slope of our enslavement is exacerbated
each time we allow others to tell us what to do with what is rightfully ours.
Are
we property owners or are we simply leasing our homes and our possessions? Look, we all understand that we need taxes,
society has to move forward and we need basic services in order to
function. We need streets and power and
water, trash removal and maybe even parks and libraries but do we really need a
guy to tell us to cut our lawns? Do we
really need property taxes that equal the cost or our home every 15 years? Do we really need a local, state and national
governments telling us which doctor to see or what kind of coverage we are
allowed or what size soft drink we can buy or how much salt to eat?
What
we need is less of everything and more individual responsibility. More of the inalienable and God given rights
to act according to our own desires and conscience, realizing that we are
responsible for what we do and we will conversely suffer or benefit from the
decisions we make.
I
for one have always been responsible for what I’ve done; I just think it’s time
for everyone to be just like me…
