BINGO!!! That is the same reason why I recycle and I turn the heat down when we are not home and why I live with minimal to no lights on when we are home…not because government says I must but because I choose to!

That is what freedom is all about.

See you Saturday!

LL

I agree metal bats are an abomination. I prefer wood bats in every way, just like I prefer outdoor football. But I don’t want the government to build me an outdoor football stadium just because I prefer it. And, in the same breath… And I hope you see the connection… I don’t use drugs, I don’t smoke, I wear my seat belt, I wear a helmet on a motorcycle, my kids wear bike helmets, they sit in automobile safety seats…

And I live this way not because the government tells me I must…

I live this way because I’ve decided to for myself. It is my choice as a free man, and no government can take that right from me, except by locking me in a cage.

Unfortunately, there appears to be a majority who have decided that if I deviate from their prescribed ‘lifestyle’ they have the right to remove me from ‘their’ society…

The use of government is the use of coercion and its power should be exercised with the utmost restraint. Our legislators have become nasty little busybodies with a police force. What an ugly combination.

Thanks much for stopping by and I look forward to the convention on Saturday.

Are we going to ban wooden bats next? After all people are beaten to death by them…it just makes sense….

Or maybe we should just ban the ball - after all kids have been killed by pitches too! Shoot - let’s just have government come in and either pad young players in football like protective gear or ban the game altogether. After all - we’re just protecting the kids!

Oh and I am a baseball purist - I think metal bats are an ABOMINATION to the game.

LL

I can see it now though, a cop standing over the crumpled form of a ten year old with a taser in his hands, “Those things are dangerous kid.. you should know better..”

No way should the government regulate things like this. I work with a whole bunch of people who say otherwise. Two of the teachers I work with will call the cops to write tickets for minor classroom disturbances. They want more laws, just like your neighbor. I hope that a lot of people read this blog and get it.

I’ve been around baseball my entire life and I’ve seen more injuries with balls coming off of wood bats than I have off of aluminum bats. I am NOT saying that wooden bats are more dangerous, I know very well that balls fly faster off of aluminum bats. What I AM saying is that, based on my experience, there is a chance of getting injured, even killed, no matter which bat is used. Should we just outlaw the sport completely?

I am confident that parents and youth organizations are intelligent enough to make responsible decisions for how to run their league.

This is another area where we’re allowing the government to protect us from ourselves. A colleague of mine and I were discussing seat belt laws and my feeling is that I wear a seat belt because I choose to be safe, not because there is a fine attached to not wearing it. My colleague believes that this, and other personal safety laws, is an important law. At what point did we determine that we needed the government to tell us how to protect ourselves from ourselves? When did we determine that we, as a people, are not intelligent enough to make decisions for ourselves?

I’m constantly amazed by people (such as my colleague) who are ready and willing to admit that they’re not intelligent enough to make responsible decisions. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs says that after physiological needs (food, water, etc) people will protect their safety next. I guess we’ve evolved to the point where this is only the case if we’re told to protect our safety by the government.

I just talked to my wife about the restaurant inspectors. She knows a lot more about that business than I do. She said, in her experience they do make a difference. She thought they prevent some serious problems and she tends to like government even less than I do. I’d like to hear from others. I’ll post on it someday.

How else would you find out aluminum bats are dangerous? Baseball is dangerous as are most sports. People get hurt… even killed playing sports. How would the government know aluminum bats are dangerous before anyone ever used them? Should there be a federal Youth Sports Safety Administration - YSSA where all sports products must be tested approved before they are allowed onto the market? Of course I wouldn’t like that, but that seems to be where you are headed with this discussion.

I’ve never given restaurant inspections any thought. I don’t know if I’d object to them. That might be a good topic to discuss on a different post. I have a few friends who own restaurants and they might give me some inside info. I can assume they would say they are opposed. I assume they would say, “If I served poison, I’d be out of business, sued, and broke. So inspections are basically a waste of time and money. Just a make work job for people.” I assume the inspectors are just a pain in the ass and don’t make much of difference. I used to work in restaurants and so did my wife. You wouldn’t believe the crap that goes on in those kitchens.

I once met a vending machine inspector. I asked what he did every day. He said he just traveled around the city making sure the vending machines were clean. I thought it was pretty silly myself. A bit of a waste of human potential. He was a bright guy who could probably be doing a lot more with his life. The opportunity cost was high. Oh well, maybe he liked it, but he didn’t seem very happy.

Police? How else would one enforce laws? Let’s just make sure they have the time and resources to enforce the serious crimes and not bog them down and turn them into nannies. A lot of modern police departments have been turned into profit centers for the city instead of services. I opposed to them being abused as revenue generators. I’m open to new ideas though. If someone can think of a better way… let’s talk.

Social security? I think private plans could return much better results. I could write book about the ponzi scheme that is SS. Do you know that if you owned a business and ran a retirement plan exactly as the Federal government runs SS that you’d be put in prison for a long long time. That should tell you little about Social Security. If I could, I’d opt out in a minute.

Emergency Rooms? Around here they are all private and always have been. But in some areas they are going out of business because people are abusing them and refusing to pay their bills. I think the US medical system is quite good, but it could be far better if we had less government regulation and interference in the market.

I’m a little curious, though–how little government would you like to have? Do you object to restaurant inspections? A police department? Social security? Emergency rooms?