Control Freaks and Puritanical Busybodies

There is a latent puritanical busybody control freak within us all. The urge to prohibit is the urge to rule others. Political power creates perverse incentives to manifest this urge through actions justified as "for the children," "to provide for the greater good," or "to protect US from THEM" to the public. After all, "There oughta be a law!"

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As a general rule, whenever a government official says, "You don't really need that," that's when you know you really need it, whatever it may be. Encryption, standard-capacity magazines, protection from search and confiscation, fair trials, etc. have all been in recent headlines. Alcohol and drug prohibitions are past and present examples, too. Civil rights are a perennial point of governmental trespass, especially for minorities, with prohibition laws used as a veneer of justification for racial profiling and oppression of inner-city populations.

This is the same attitude that led to the Spanish Inquisition, colonial witch trials, the perpetuation of slavery, and every other government-supported mass injustice in history. If your rights are secondary to the whims of the people who claim power, their claims to power can only be interpreted as illegitimate. Be disobedient. Don't salute their flags. Don't use their pompous titles. Don't thank them for "their service." Be a bad citizen and a good neighbor. Be a lawbreaker but not a criminal. Comply where necessary, but never consent. Be as free as possible in an unfree world.

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