Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 12/30/17> is it our pride here in the USA or is it…..something else?

Well we are closing in on the end of the year and now would be a good time to reflect back on what has taken place in 2017 with the old Sultnpapper. Life.

Now that we have that out of the way let’s visit about one of my favorite subjects, law. Have you ever stopped to wonder why we have so many damn laws in the United States? I was over on Sola and someone made a card that said Americans have too much pride to admit that we are not the most “free country” in the world. I think the person was Dutch, if I remember correctly.

I hate to admit it, but that person struck a nerve with me, and not for the reason you might be thinking. As a red blooded American I could have responded in a typical fashion of,”well who the hell are you to judge us? What makes you think we are not the freest country and that our pride is in the way of admitting it?” The thing is I have self control and secondly the person might just be right, or at least, half right.

America we have a problem, and that problem is not our pride as the Dutch person surmised, our problem is ignorance. Yep, I said it, ignorance. Now this might make some of you angry with me but so be it. If you look at my little tag line on my blog it states, “Here to share the truth, no matter how much it hurts you.”, and so in keeping my word, I am going to share some observations I have, and we’ll let the chips fall where they may.

First things first, ignorance is not a four letter word, it isn’t meant to demean anyone, or be a slam against anyone. It just simply means that you lack the knowledge or information. People sometimes get confused between stupidity and ignorance, and thus they feel hurt by being called ignorant.

In order to determine just how free we are in the United States we must first understand the definition of the word free. I just happened to do a search on the trusty googles and found several so let’s see them and then we can go from there.
From Dictionary.com
Free:
1.) not under the control or in the power of another
2.) not physically restrained, obstructed or fixed: unimpeded
3.) without cost or payment
4.) released from captivity, confinement or slavery
From Merriam –Webster.com
Free:
1.) not costing or charging anything
2.) having the legal and political rights of a citizen
3.) enjoying civil and political liberty

The definition as given by Dictionary.com is pretty strait forward and easy to understand, I think we can agree on that, Merriam-Webster.com is a different story. Why do they have to cloud the definition with terms like “political rights” and “political liberty”? As much as I hate to do it we are going to have to get those terms defined so that we can move forward.

Liberty:
1.) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior or political views
2.) the power or scope to act as one pleases

Right:
1.) that which is morally correct , just or honorable
2.) a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way
3.) the right hand part , side or direction

Political:
1.) relating to the government or the public affairs of a country

So we have pretty much have what we need now in determining just how “free” we are here in the USA with the above defined words and terms. Now it is time to get started on making the determination. Let’s start at the beginning, for the beginning I am going to use a point in time that we are all familiar with and that would be birth.

Have you had any children born in the United States recently? How about all those government forms you have to fill out and sign? Try not filling out those forms and see if you can take your baby home with you, it isn’t very likely you will make it to the door of the hospital without law enforcement and Child Protective Services stopping you from leaving. Since when is mandatory compliance a symbol of freedom? The government has just taken control of your child whether or not you realize it with the birth forms and social security forms you are forced to fill out. Still thinking you are free?

So it is time to head home from the hospital with your new born child, after you have completed the forms.
Bring the car around front and let’s take Momma and the baby home. Wait just a minute, where is the new born car seat? You are required by law to have the baby restrained in an approved car seat. While you are at it, you and Momma need to buckle up too. I can’t see from my vantage point so I’ll just ask you, is your inspection sticker and license plates current on that car, do you have your driver’s license and proof of insurance? All of these are government requirements. Still thinking you are free?

Well I am glad to see you made it home safe, and that ticket you got for talking on your cell phone on the way home is bogus in my opinion, just because you had the phone in your hand and weren’t using a hands free device makes it a crime, the result is the same you are talking on a phone. Still thinking you are free?

So, just how are you and Momma going to handle it when you take the little one to the pediatrician and the doctor starts talking about the “shots”, yes the government isn’t going to let your child go to school in the future if the little darling doesn’t have all the government required vaccinations. Just what all is in those vaccinations anyway? Could it be that those government studies that say the vaccinations are safe might not be as accurate as the government leads you to believe? Still thinking you are free?

It is a good thing you have a job and can afford to raise this baby; of course it would be a lot less strain on the household budget if the government wasn’t deducting all the taxes and social security from your paycheck. Why is it that you can always make cuts in your budget when needed and the government can’t seem too? I don’t even want to bring up the mandatory health insurance you are required to have or you must pay the penalty for not having it, which would be just adding insult to injury at this point. Still thinking you are free?

The good news is your new baby is a tax deduction for you, seeing how it is a government asset; it really is nice of them to allow you the deduction. That baby will have to grow up and help pay off the national debt. Why is it that we saddle generation after generation with more and more national public debt? That almost sounds like sentencing them to forced labor for the government? Still thinking you are free?

While I’m thinking about it, don’t forget to renew your contractor’s license with the city and the county; it expires on 12/31/17. You know that you need that license to pull the necessary government permits so that you can keep doing the home remodeling that you do for a living. Still thinking you are free?

Speaking of licenses, just what is a license? Why are licenses required anyway?

According to the dictionary it is a “freedom to act”, how can a freedom require permission? That is an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Do we really need marriage licenses, why does the government need to sanction marriage? The second amendment is all I need to have when it comes to having a gun, why do I need a concealed carry handgun license or a hunting & fishing license for that matter. Still thinking you are free?

I haven’t even really touch on the laws yet, and I was hoping to give you an exact number of laws we have here in America, unfortunately the number is so high the exact count hasn’t been able to be determined, at least that is what the internet searches I’ve done come up with. Now, I really don’t believe that, could it be that the folks running this country don’t want that number to be known? A clue on how many laws we have might be found in how many people are incarcerated in the USA, we lead the world in the number of people we have locked up in this country. We’re number one, we’re number one; not really something to cheer about, I know. It does tell us though that something is out of whack.

One thing about law you always hear said is, “ignorance of the law is no excuse”, if the people who make the laws can’t find all of them and get an accurate count of them, how in the hell is the common man suppose to know if he is breaking the law or not?

I did find some numbers, the numbers I found are outdated but you can rest assured not many if any, have been repealed. Federal law back in 1927 when laws were first codified fit into one volume or book. To give you an idea of how busy our lawmakers have been, in 1980 the number of volumes needed to record all the federal laws numbered 50 volumes and over 23,000 pages. Those of you who think we need more gun laws need to have your heads examined, there are over 20,000 laws concerning guns and gun ownership. Which begs the question of, “how can that be? We have the second amendment which protects are right to bear arms don’t we?” Well maybe, as long as you don’t violate one of these 20,000 laws. Those are just the federal guns laws, how about the states that have gun laws? Still thinking you are free?

If that is not enough for you the National Conference of State Legislatures report that in the year 2011 states and US territories passed 40,000 new laws in that year alone, one year mind you, 2011. That’s roughly 800 laws per state if you broke it down by just the 50 states.

We are not “free” folks, and I hate that I am the one who has to break this news to you. We have been conditioned just like the frog that gets boiled alive in a pot of scalding water. We keep accepting these laws that chip away at freedom, just like the heat on the stove is turned up on the pot of water. The water started out as one volume in 1927, basically room temperature as an analogy, the heat has been turned up over the years to the point that we the frogs have been fully cooked, more than 50 times over in volume form. They cooked us so long that they have had to keep adding more water in the forms of additional laws to keep the pot full.

The Dutch person who said we won’t admit that we aren’t the freest country is correct. The reason stated is where I have an issue with the statement; I blame it on complete and blatant ignorance, not pride. The saying I mentioned earlier about ignorance of the law being no excuse is true in more ways than one. Yes, if you break a law you can expect to be charged with a crime, even though you may not have known the law existed. Ignorance of how the cumulative effect of these laws has stolen our freedom is a real life tragedy and continues every day, for which there is no excuse either.

Just my opinion and, like always, I welcome your thoughts.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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