Choice, The Evilness of Restrictions

The United States of America was founded on the theory that human beings do not need Kings.  That there are, in fact, ways for the common people to govern themselves.  One key element of this idea, self-governance, is the notion of choice.

Choice when it comes to who the leadership is, choice in how we all interact together, choice in the opportunities available to  all of the population, choice in employment, the list is virtually endless.  And yet it is choice that elected officials are trimming back on these days.  You cannot choose, in every state, not to have gasoline for your vehicle that is devoid of alcohol. You cannot choose, in every state, not to teach evolution in science class. You cannot choose, in every state, not to pay a building permit when remodeling your house, and so it goes.

Governance in the first quarter of the twenty first century often means social engineering.   Can you driver your car and if so where can it be driven, Can you build a house in a neighborhood that is slightly out of the norm in external looks. How much does the soda or bottle water cost, due to fees on recycling driven ideas. Should you be given the choice of a plastic, paper, or cloth bag to bring your groceries home in?

Modern governance tends to demand a tax or a law forbidding the item(s) all together. People then complain about the heavy hand of government, a tax can be of any amount, and said tax may be so high as to preclude choosing the item at all.  In this case the choice is limited, and limited by the very government founded with the idea of choice.

A better method would be to allow the society in your location itself decide, voluntary, which to choose.  This can be done by calling a meeting, call it a work session, between the governed and those who govern.  This means that you, the elected official, must listen to the very people that placed you in office.  Your business community can be taped to provide ideas on how this would work without driving up their costs or affecting their retail prices for the goods that they sell

What you can accomplish is a method that makes the use of; lets say cloth bags, a better choice than paper bags and then plastic bags a really poor choice.  And doing so with out either a tax, which may cost you your elected job, or an ordnance outright forbidding the use of one kind of bag over another.

Voluntary compliance will work, and indeed it can work well, for other ideas as well.  Friday Harbor has a historical district in which compliance is voluntary.  It works to keep the look and feel of new buildings built around older buildings in sync with their surroundings.  There is no reason that the idea of voluntary compliance will not work for other things as well. Voluntary compliance also means that your, the one who got more votes than the other person, do not add to the cost of living burden in your community.

Something to think about when you are busy crafting laws that effect everyone around you.

Sherman

Words Really do Matter – Part Two

I have mentioned this before and it seems like a good time to mention it again.  Words matter a lot in the business of politics.  Consider the stock market plunge in the light of the rhetoric coming from both the Congress and the President of the United States of America.

First the government decided to “bail out” the banks; inventors sold stock in those banks because with the government “buying in” the investment in stocks is watered down.  Investors then sold shares to take their earnings before the stock fell.

Then some members of Congress in uniform unison with the president said that some banks might need to be completely government run.  More investors sold their stock because if the government nationalizes the banks the investors loose all of their money.  The stock market fell even further

Then CTI bank decided to shed their pretense of being a public owned bank, inviting the government to have over a thirty percent share in them.  Preferred voting shares converted to non-voting shares.  Investors sold more bank stock driving the stock market down even further.

What this points to is that the drop in the price of sticks, investor confidence, and the ability of businesses to receive credit, is directly affected by the rhetoric of elected officials.  When you are in elected office, or if you are already in office, it will behoove you to be careful with what you say.  The words that come out of your mouth can cause panic and economic hard ship for your community and beyond.  As the above real life examples indicate.

Sherman