[Previous entry: "Slow going"] [Next entry: "Resident Evil"]
07/14/2004: "Crazy liberals"
Today on my way to work, I was stuck behind an SUV that was wall-papered with anti-Bush bumper stickers (come on, after you spend all that money on that big, shiny, black gas-guzzler, you should treat it better that that). One of them had a quote that apparently was supposed to be mocking Bush; it said "We ought to limit our freedoms" and was attributed to something the president said in 1999.
Obviously, this liberal quite mistakenly thinks we live in a completely free county. Yes, we ought to limit our freedoms, and we do. Go to the library and look at your state's books of laws and statutes. Look at the federal versions. Look at how thick they are, and at all the teeny tiny print inside. Ta da, limits on freedom.
A completely free nation would be a chaotic disaster. Government regulation is what gives us the freedoms we take for granted. The freedom for the consumer to not be cheated by businesses using false advertising and fraudulant merchandise. The freedom for a citizen to not walk down the street and be assaulted. Can you imagine what it would be like if we really were allowed to do whatever the hell we wanted? If in defense of himself a killer could just shrug and say, "It's a free county"?
So that liberal might think that bumper sticker is snarky and clever and "Ahahaha, look at dumb ole' Bush!" (honestly, bashing Bush is just WAY too trendy these days, to the point where it's tired and boring and completely unoriginal), but in reality, we ought to limit our freedoms, and we do. That's what makes living here safe.