THE NANNY STATE
Each election takes away a bit of our freedom. This paradox of democracy is inherent in the character of politicians and the nature of man. A politician desirous of being elected by the people makes promises to deliver ‘goodies’ to them in exchange for their vote. Human nature, being what it is, leads most citizens to cast their votes for the politician promising the most ‘freebies’ to them. Winston Churchill’s promise of only "blood, toil, tears and sweat" would not work with voters today. We want to hear about bridges, jobs, programs, benefits, protection from annoyance and reprisal against those who offend us; these are the ‘goodies’ the politician promises and the ‘freebies’ we have come to expect.
Welcome to the Nanny State. We are now in an era when the fulfillment our desires, wishes and wants are the duty of the state to provide. We have moved from security, national defense by the federal government and police protection at the local level, to expecting a security blanket. A security blanket’s job is to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside; we have transferred our cares and concerns to officials who will make the right decisions without troubling us and then give us what we need to be happy; it is like having a nice comfortable English Nanny to comfort us.
Alas, every ‘goodie’ and each ‘freebie’ comes at a cost of a sliver of our freedom. The cost may be as simple as an increased tax to pay for the ‘freebie’ or it may come as the curtailment of a traditional freedom. The need to surrender freedoms for security is constantly hyped by ambitious politicians, the scare mongering media and elitist social and environmental activists. As each election approaches citizens are treated to ever mounting scare stories in the media about globalization, a collapsing economy, child abduction or an unsafe bridge. As anxiety levels rise to fever pitch about how unsafe we are, we turn to our nanny politicians who then promise a solution if only we elect them. Their ‘plan’ will solve the problem and restore our comfort level; all we have to do is concede a little of our, or preferably someone else’s, freedom. It might be a small new tax, the banning of the sale of some product or a restriction against who can build a home or business or where. Each ‘goodie’ to restore our comfort level etches away at our freedom of choice. But consider the cumulative effect of these ‘minor inconveniences’. 53% of 3,000 people surveyed, feel local governments should ban trans fats from restaurant foods. Look out McDonalds. Chicago banned the sale of goose liver. Towns are banning the building of Wal Marts and Home Depots because their images offend some elites. In the scare of the week for last week, Al Gore told the United Nations that cigarette smoke is a major cause of global warming. Systematically our elites are constricting our freedoms to conform to their world view even as their theme is, ‘vote for me and I will take care of you’.
Of course, a security blanket has costs; the most vital cost is freedom of choice which is ebbing away slowly. The most visible costs are the increased taxes needed to pay for each ‘goodie’ and ‘freebie’. Sometimes the tax cost is freely expressed, as when Rep. Charlie Rangel, scheduled to be Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if the Democrats take Congress in November, states about increasing taxes, "No question about it. Everything has to be on the table." But he did say he would cut off funding for the war on terror. The stealth way to indicate that taxes will increase is shown by Democrat candidate for Governor, Ted Strickland’s sly method of always just referring to "increased funding" for all sorts of programs. He assumes that voters are too feebleminded to realize all "funding"or "investment" (the other political code word for spending) comes from taxes and not the tooth fairy. Some semblance of the old American virtue of self-reliance is in the Republican candidate for Governor Ken Blackwell’s goal of leaving more of citizens’ incomes in their own pockets by rolling back the Ohio Sales Tax and reforming the Ohio Income Tax. Europe has already wrapped itself in the ultimate security blanket by the Nanny State and is rapidly being smothered by it and I don’t think we want ‘to go there’.
Politics needs a version of medicine’s Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. ‘Goodies’ and ‘ freebies’are millstones on freedom.
Each election takes away a bit of our freedom. This paradox of democracy is inherent in the character of politicians and the nature of man. A politician desirous of being elected by the people makes promises to deliver ‘goodies’ to them in exchange for their vote. Human nature, being what it is, leads most citizens to cast their votes for the politician promising the most ‘freebies’ to them. Winston Churchill’s promise of only "blood, toil, tears and sweat" would not work with voters today. We want to hear about bridges, jobs, programs, benefits, protection from annoyance and reprisal against those who offend us; these are the ‘goodies’ the politician promises and the ‘freebies’ we have come to expect.
Welcome to the Nanny State. We are now in an era when the fulfillment our desires, wishes and wants are the duty of the state to provide. We have moved from security, national defense by the federal government and police protection at the local level, to expecting a security blanket. A security blanket’s job is to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside; we have transferred our cares and concerns to officials who will make the right decisions without troubling us and then give us what we need to be happy; it is like having a nice comfortable English Nanny to comfort us.
Alas, every ‘goodie’ and each ‘freebie’ comes at a cost of a sliver of our freedom. The cost may be as simple as an increased tax to pay for the ‘freebie’ or it may come as the curtailment of a traditional freedom. The need to surrender freedoms for security is constantly hyped by ambitious politicians, the scare mongering media and elitist social and environmental activists. As each election approaches citizens are treated to ever mounting scare stories in the media about globalization, a collapsing economy, child abduction or an unsafe bridge. As anxiety levels rise to fever pitch about how unsafe we are, we turn to our nanny politicians who then promise a solution if only we elect them. Their ‘plan’ will solve the problem and restore our comfort level; all we have to do is concede a little of our, or preferably someone else’s, freedom. It might be a small new tax, the banning of the sale of some product or a restriction against who can build a home or business or where. Each ‘goodie’ to restore our comfort level etches away at our freedom of choice. But consider the cumulative effect of these ‘minor inconveniences’. 53% of 3,000 people surveyed, feel local governments should ban trans fats from restaurant foods. Look out McDonalds. Chicago banned the sale of goose liver. Towns are banning the building of Wal Marts and Home Depots because their images offend some elites. In the scare of the week for last week, Al Gore told the United Nations that cigarette smoke is a major cause of global warming. Systematically our elites are constricting our freedoms to conform to their world view even as their theme is, ‘vote for me and I will take care of you’.
Of course, a security blanket has costs; the most vital cost is freedom of choice which is ebbing away slowly. The most visible costs are the increased taxes needed to pay for each ‘goodie’ and ‘freebie’. Sometimes the tax cost is freely expressed, as when Rep. Charlie Rangel, scheduled to be Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if the Democrats take Congress in November, states about increasing taxes, "No question about it. Everything has to be on the table." But he did say he would cut off funding for the war on terror. The stealth way to indicate that taxes will increase is shown by Democrat candidate for Governor, Ted Strickland’s sly method of always just referring to "increased funding" for all sorts of programs. He assumes that voters are too feebleminded to realize all "funding"or "investment" (the other political code word for spending) comes from taxes and not the tooth fairy. Some semblance of the old American virtue of self-reliance is in the Republican candidate for Governor Ken Blackwell’s goal of leaving more of citizens’ incomes in their own pockets by rolling back the Ohio Sales Tax and reforming the Ohio Income Tax. Europe has already wrapped itself in the ultimate security blanket by the Nanny State and is rapidly being smothered by it and I don’t think we want ‘to go there’.
Politics needs a version of medicine’s Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. ‘Goodies’ and ‘ freebies’are millstones on freedom.
posted by CAROLYN at 10:31 AM
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