Government Impedes Good Samaritan

So, your good friend or family member from Florida calls and says that Hurricane Charley has damaged his house and he can't get any one to come do repair work right now. He asks if you will come give him a hand with the repairs and you agree to do it because friends take care of each other.

No one in his right mind would think that there is anything wrong with this scenario, after all, that is what friends and family are for. This is just the what happened in the case of Anthony Howell, who flew to Florida to assist his buddy repair his home. However, because Mr. Howell is a contractor in New York, he has broken Florida law by assisting his friend. He has become a felon. See, Florida has a law that say "only contractors licensed by the state may engage in roof repair."

This is outrageous. Howell gives up a week of paying work to help an old friend...and he becomes a criminal. This clearly shows government growing out-of-control. I have a general theory that all laws should be self-evident (i.e., any reasonable person should know whether they are breaking a particular law whether or not they have read every law on the books). No reasonable person would see anything wrong with helping a friend out. Secondly, this law denies the owner of the house the freedom to choose who to use and how and when to get his house fixed. I don't see any reason for government to be able to tell the owner of the house who he may or may not pay with his money to fix his house. Government has no discernible interest in the transaction. Finally, I am not a big fan of government licensing individuals or private corporations. Licensing should be handled by a private regulatory agency for each industry is recognized at a national level. There should be no law forcing private individuals to only receive services from licensed individuals. If I want to go to a non-licensed doctor, it is not the government's business. (Of course, if the doctor claims to be licensed and is not, then he has acted fraudently and the government should get involved).

Many of us only vote at the national level. However, I think we must at our state and local levels vote for people who wish to get government out of our lives. The current two-party system at the national level effectively block change at that level. However, a ground swell at local and state level will bleed over to the national level in time.