The Nanny State Cometh

I marvel at the attempts made by government officials to control the lives of individual Americans in their routines of life.

We have bureaucrats that are more than willing to tell us how to operate our businesses, what to eat and drink, how to spend our leisure time, and how to treat those around us. We have countless government agencies whose sole purpose is to nudge individual Americans into herd behaviors that benefit whatever bureaucrats deem is the common good.

That common good can be accomplished by protecting our environment from pollution, by protecting us all from activities suspected of contributing to man made global warming, by protecting us from any casual contact with cigarette smoke (or any of a thousand other substances,) by keeping people from either accidentally or purposefully ingesting any foods or drinks where short or long term ingestion thereof might cause cancer or obesity or high blood pressure in mice, by protecting particular classes of people from being disadvantaged or offended, or by keeping knuckle dragging conservatives from thinking the wrong thoughts.

Some bureaucrats these days hint at reining in certain uncooperative news channels, hobbling the blogosphere, and throwing cold water over the haters of talk radio. You see, it just isn't helpful to have government's ambitions painted in such an uncomely manner! They are, after all, here to protect.

This last election was, I think, at least a bit of an indication that many among us had seen enough. Many of us are tired of the intrusiveness of government. And, while most of us recognize that actions taken by individuals can be damaging to individuals, we believe that handcuffing individuals to the desired outcomes of the collective creates a society that intrinsically functions less successfully while it offers us less freedom.

While conservatives have helped to pull both wings of the legislative branch back closer to sanity, there is still a lot of work to do.

I offer you as an example, Rep. Jan Schakowski, D-Illinois, who won reelection into the upcoming house.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the Illinois Congresswoman who informed the WSJ that I am a "cynical special interest" because I dared to participate in the upcoming midterm elections, is not content with rearranging your business and the Children's Product industry. Now she wants to redesign your new home.

Does she have good taste, you ask. Well, read on and see what you think of Jan Schakowsky as your architect or decorator.

Your home is your last refuge, right? Not if she gets her way -- but then again, she knows what's best for you! After all, a bigger government involved in every aspect of your life is a BETTER government. The estimable Ms. Schakowsky is the sponsor of HR 1408 Inclusive Home Design Act of 2009. In other words, this law-in-the-makings is her handiwork.

Read the article and then come back and answer the questions.

How comfortable do you feel in the local building department having the final say on whether your own personal home is accessible enough to the handicapped? Even if you are not handicapped. Even if no one in your family is handicapped. Even if the only person you know that is handicapped is someone that you don't like and don't want to visit you in the first place. Even if it costs you many thousands more in building costs.

Well, Jan Schakowsky knows best about these sorts of things and she is willing to use strings-attached government money to shackle you into compliance.

“any assistance that is provided or otherwise made available by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or any program or activity or such agencies, through any grant, loan, contract, or any other arrangement, after the expiration of the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, including . . . grants, subsidies, or any other funds . . . services of Federal personnel . . . any tax credit, mortgage or loan guarantee or insurance. . . .”

In other words, if you even brush against the federal government in constructing your new home, you are COVERED by this law. Tax credit for your new energy-efficient furnace? You’re IN. HUD loan refinance for a development of several homes? You’re IN. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac involved? You’re IN. Vet benefits? You’re IN. Inspected by a federal employee for some reason? You get the idea.

Tea party people are being vilified across the nation by progressive democrats for being haters, racists, unsophisticated, uneducated, greedy, morally suspect, and, to put it simply, stupid.

We are vilified by establishment republicans for being unsophisticated, uneducated, greedy, morally suspect, not politically pragmatic, and, to put it simply, stupid.

I might very well be stupid and I'll admit that political pragmatism has never been at the top of my strengths list. But I'm pretty certain I'm smart enough and practical enough to build my own home according to my own needs without Jan Schakowsky and her minions having the final say on all the final design touches.

h/t Overlawyered