Diminishing Freedom in America

Diminishing Freedom in America

“It’s a free country!” The United States of America is a free country: however, everyday it’s citizens are stripped of their freedom. People’s freedom is being taken away by intrusive laws which are created by a legislative body that resembles a corporation rather than a branch of government. The purpose of this corporate legislative body is to create profits by creating criminals; this can be accomplished by the creation of victimless crimes. Law and order is replacing actual freedom.

Intrusive and excessive law making intrude upon American citizens’ rights and freedoms. Certain laws restrict the actions of law abiding citizents (therefore limiting individual freedoms) rather than inhibiting those of criminals. These laws do little more than punish innocent people for either ignorance of the laws or forgetting to perform a simple action. Intrusive laws dictate many aspects of peoples everyday lives. How do you remember to put on your seat belt? Do you do it for the sake of safety, or to avoid a fine? (Here in North Carolina, where I live it's a $50 fine for not wearing your seat belt, I don't know how widespread this law is.)

The United States Government must raise money to operate. The {Congress|legislative branch] of government raises funds by creating laws that in turn create criminals. Everyday new laws are passed that turn tax paying citizens into criminals for riding a “chopped” motorcycle, or playing music on a street corner (in my town, people have been fined for playing a guitar in a public park without a "performers permit). The legislative body not only creates revenue through excessive lawmaking, but it justifies its own existence by proving its own growth. If each year more criminals are caught, then the legislative branch has proven that it is creating sufficient profits as well as perpetuating its own existence, by proving sufficient growth. Americans are led to believe that the purpose of laws is to protect freedom and well being; however, many laws are, in fact, created in order to create criminals, and in turn create revenue.

Everyday people are convicted of crimes which have no negative effect upon society or other people. These crimes are victimless. Take, for example, (once again) seatbelts. If you don’t wear a seatbelt you are not harming anyone else. If you don’t wear your seatbelt, the only problem that you are creating is one for yourself, your actions will not lead to any other persons discomfort or distress. Victimless crime laws are created upon the idea that more laws equals more criminals (and in turn more money for the executive and legislative bodies). In order to justify the existence of a gigantic police force, and a legislative body that wastes millions of dollars each year, people must break laws. Just as importantly, people must be caught breaking laws in order for the executive and legislative bodies to make money. Do you think that it is easier for a police officer to catch a person not wearing a seatbelt, or to catch a cocaine dealer selling to young people?

Freedom is an ideal that is taken for granted in America, and since it is taken for granted, it is easy to be taken away. Everyone always just assumes that they are living in a free country. They only believe that freedom can be taken away by actions such as coup or communist takeover of our current government; however, quite the opposite is true. Freedom is being taken away slowly, through the use of intrusive and excessive lawmaking, the corporatization of the legislative and executive branches of government, and the passage of victimless crime laws. Americans are very complacent people, when a law is passed that they disagree with, very few will take the time to write their congressman, or start a petition. People will only realize that their freedom has been taken when it is too late, but they will always be free to be complacent.

The seatbelt-effect.

A person wearing his or her seatbelt every day decreases his or her own chances of being killed in a traffic accident. Chances of being maimed or permanently disabled are also diminished.

A person not wearing his or her seatbelt thus puts society at risk. If an accident happens, and the person is killed, society has lost a member, a productive individual with a role to fill, as a factory worker or entertainer or whatever. If the person is disabled, he or she will become a liability (allthough the cost of maintaining a disabled person is still lower than the potential loss of value if the person had died. Let Stephen Hawkin be an example) to society.

That society chooses to make not wearing seatbelt a hazard to individuals economy is a decision based on the principle of preserving assets. A person is more likely to defend oneself from an immediate loss of money, than from a potential lethal hazard. Why? People are greedy and selfabsorbed. Noone belives they can be hurt in traffic, but everyone thinks they can be fined by the cops.

Your freedom is defended by intrusive laws. If there were no laws, numbnuts with no conception of right and wrong would subject themselves and others to damage that would cost society dearly to repair. The effect would be no mass transit. No public schools. No defence. Anarchy would reign.

One man alone is free only to suffer solitude.