The United States of Total Paranoia

I continue to think that we are no longer the land of the Free. We have forgotton what freedom is. We are the land of the Permit. Want to add a deck (that you are paying for) to your house (that you paid for)? You need a permit. The government needs to give you permission (hmmm...interesting, permit and permission look an awful lot like the same word) to do stuff on your own property with your own money.

Freedom is the ability to control your own destinty. One should be able to do whatever one wants as long as he does not evade the rights of others. What rights? Oh, only those that were laid out in the Declaration of Independence. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (originally, it was actually pursuit of property, I wish Jefferson hadn't changed it). I'm not sure how me building a deck on my property infringes on another person's right to life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness. But, it must because I have to get permission from my government to do it. I'm sure glad I live in the land of the free.

Now, we take most of this granted and don't even think about it. However, when this Englishman visited America to make a film, he encountered American at its best:

"But if you step outside the loop, if you try to do something a bit zany, you will find that you're in a police state."

Happy 4th of July...although I'm not sure we should be celebrating freedom.