A permit? A permit? Really? A permit?
Doesn't that sound sort of totalitarian to anyone else?
I work in an industry in which we interact often with our local and state health departments. Several of the major services that we provide require us to get a permit from the local health department. The local officials are occasionally genuine, but they are almost always condescending and almost never have respect for private property as such.
In the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, a homeowner is required to get a permit before doing almost anything to his property. Some localities are worse than others, but they are all required by state and federal authorities to restrict the citizens' freedoms in meaningful ways.
How did we get here? How did we get to the point where we allow government officials to require us to let them permit us to drill a well or build a house?
How did "Give me or liberty or give me death!" become "Please let me add a bathroom onto the back of my house"?
When did we start leasing our castles from Uncle Sam?
When did we turn back the clock to the manorialism of medieval Europe?
Well, you say, permit is just a word! Don't overthink it! It's just a way to organize society and document what happens on properties.
No, language reflects attitudes. Words reflect assumptions. When my local county tells me I have to file for a permit, which may or may not be granted, they are telling me that I don't really own my land. I am not a free man on my own land. I am a serf, living and dying at the behest of my overlord.
Did I mention that permits cost money? Of course they do! Government bureaucracies aren't cheap! We have to find a way to fund the intrusive government agencies we create!
That's the salt in the wound. Not only do you have to beg "Massa" to let you modify your own home and to regulate how you do it, but you actually have to pay him to do so! They can't come out and inspect your work for free!
There's just something about that word: permit.
Really think about that word for a minute. Contemplate the underlying presuppositions of that word. Consider the ramifications of those presuppositions.
Permit.
Is that the language of free men?
Doesn't that sound sort of totalitarian to anyone else?
I work in an industry in which we interact often with our local and state health departments. Several of the major services that we provide require us to get a permit from the local health department. The local officials are occasionally genuine, but they are almost always condescending and almost never have respect for private property as such.
In the United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, a homeowner is required to get a permit before doing almost anything to his property. Some localities are worse than others, but they are all required by state and federal authorities to restrict the citizens' freedoms in meaningful ways.
How did we get here? How did we get to the point where we allow government officials to require us to let them permit us to drill a well or build a house?
How did "Give me or liberty or give me death!" become "Please let me add a bathroom onto the back of my house"?
When did we start leasing our castles from Uncle Sam?
When did we turn back the clock to the manorialism of medieval Europe?
Well, you say, permit is just a word! Don't overthink it! It's just a way to organize society and document what happens on properties.
No, language reflects attitudes. Words reflect assumptions. When my local county tells me I have to file for a permit, which may or may not be granted, they are telling me that I don't really own my land. I am not a free man on my own land. I am a serf, living and dying at the behest of my overlord.
Did I mention that permits cost money? Of course they do! Government bureaucracies aren't cheap! We have to find a way to fund the intrusive government agencies we create!
That's the salt in the wound. Not only do you have to beg "Massa" to let you modify your own home and to regulate how you do it, but you actually have to pay him to do so! They can't come out and inspect your work for free!
There's just something about that word: permit.
Really think about that word for a minute. Contemplate the underlying presuppositions of that word. Consider the ramifications of those presuppositions.
Permit.
Is that the language of free men?
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