Diminishing Freedom in America
“It’s a
free country!” The United States of
America is a free country: however, everyday it’s
citizens are stripped of their freedom. People’s freedom is being taken away by intrusive laws which are created by a
legislative body that resembles a corporation rather than a branch of
government. The purpose of this corporate legislative body is to
create profits by creating
criminals; this can be accomplished by the creation of victimless crimes.
Law and order is replacing actual
freedom.
Intrusive and excessive law making intrude upon
American citizens’ rights and freedoms. Certain laws
restrict the
actions of law abiding citizents (therefore limiting individual
freedoms) rather than
inhibiting those of
criminals. These
laws do
little more than
punish innocent people for either
ignorance of the laws or
forgetting to
perform a
simple action. Intrusive laws
dictate many aspects of peoples everyday lives. How do you
remember to put on your seat belt? Do you do it for the sake of safety, or to
avoid a fine? (Here in
North Carolina, where I
live it's a
$50 fine for not wearing your seat belt,
I don't know how widespread this law is.)
The
United States Government must raise
money to operate. The {Congress|legislative branch] of
government raises
funds by creating
laws that in turn create
criminals.
Every
day new laws are passed that turn tax paying citizens into criminals for riding a “
chopped” motorcycle, or playing music on a
street corner (in
my town, people have been fined for playing a
guitar in a public park without a "
performers permit). The legislative body not only
creates revenue through
excessive lawmaking, but it justifies its own existence by proving its own
growth. If each year more
criminals are caught, then the legislative branch has proven that it is creating sufficient profits as well as perpetuating its own existence, by proving sufficient
growth.
Americans are led to believe that the purpose of laws is to
protect freedom and
well being; however, many laws are, in fact,
created in order to create criminals, and in
turn create revenue.
Everyday people are
convicted of crimes which have no negative effect upon society or other people. These crimes are victimless. Take, for example, (once again) seatbelts. If you don’t wear a
seatbelt you are not
harming anyone else. If you don’t wear your seatbelt, the only problem that you are creating is one for yourself, your
actions will not lead to any other persons
discomfort or
distress.
Victimless
crime laws are created upon the idea that more laws equals more
criminals (and in turn more money for the executive and legislative bodies). In order to justify the existence of a
gigantic police force, and a legislative body that
wastes
millions of dollars each year, people must break laws. Just as importantly, people must be caught breaking
laws in order for the executive and legislative bodies to make
money. Do you think that it is easier for a police officer to catch a person not wearing a
seatbelt, or to catch a cocaine dealer selling to young
people?
Freedom is an ideal that is taken for granted in America, and since it is taken for granted, it is easy to be taken away. Everyone always just assumes that they are living in a free country. They only believe that freedom can be taken away by actions such as coup or
communist takeover of our current government; however, quite the opposite is true. Freedom is being taken away
slowly, through the use of intrusive and excessive lawmaking, the corporatization of the legislative and executive branches of government, and the passage of victimless crime laws. Americans are very
complacent people, when a law is passed that they
disagree with, very
few will take the time to write their congressman, or
start a petition. People will only
realize that their
freedom has been taken when it is too late, but they will always be free to be
complacent.