Many of the people who founded the U.S. came here because they just wanted to be left alone.  They were tired of governments hassling them over their religion and preventing them from living their lives as they thought best.  So they established a government that respected individual liberty and property – a place where peaceful people would be left alone to live their lives in peace.  Where parents could raise their children in accordance with their own values.  Where they didn’t have to worry about police knocking on their doors in the middle of the night.

So what has happened?  Today, many Americans are demanding the use of government force to control lives.  They want the government to force parents to inoculate their daughters against the virus that causes cervical cancer.  They want the government to force people to wear their seatbelts.  They want government to enforce smoking bans in private businesses and homes.  They want the government to prevent parents from spanking their own children. 

I don’t get it.  Do people have so little faith in themselves that they think they need to be forced to do what they think is right?  Or are they such busybodies that they want to force everyone else to do what they think is the right thing?  Or do they think that, if something is required by law they won’t have to pay for it? 

Do these folks understand that, instead of our traditional tolerant, live-and-let-live society, they are ushering in a force-based society?  Do they really want no-knock raids in the middle of the night so the police can be sure they are living in accordance with the law?  Do they really want people to live in fear that their neighbors will turn them in for eating the wrong foods, failing to sort their garbage properly, or smoking near their children?  It sounds silly and ridiculous, but it most certainly is not.

There is nothing comical or benevolent about being forced to undergo medical procedures against your will.  There is nothing comical or benevolent about police invading your home or your car or your business to inspect and then hauling you off to jail or taking your children away if you fail the inspection.  American police can be just as brutal as the Gestapo or the KGB when they are given similar authority and are required to carry out orders, and yet that is exactly what these folks are demanding.