An Interesting Approach To Combat Our Burgeoning Regulatory Leviathan [CBD]

Charles Murray, Of "The Bell Curve" fame, has written an interesting new book: By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission. Think what you will about his most famous book -- this is not the place to rehash that cultural brouhaha -- he has some interesting ideas for our current existential crisis.

From the AEI blurb:

American freedom is being gutted. Whether we are trying to run a business, practice a vocation, raise our families, cooperate with our neighbors, or follow our religious beliefs, we run afoul of the government—not because we are doing anything wrong but because the government has decided it knows better. When we object, that government can and does tell us, “Try to fight this, and we’ll ruin you.”

The bad news? That ain't going to change. Government is too big and too entrenched.

But....

...there’s good news beyond the Beltway. Technology is siphoning power from sclerotic government agencies and putting it in the hands of individuals and communities. The rediversification of American culture is making local freedom attractive to liberals as well as conservatives. People across the political spectrum are increasingly alienated from a regulatory state that nakedly serves its own interests rather than those of ordinary Americans.

The even better news is that federal government has a fatal weakness: It can get away with its thousands of laws and regulations only if the overwhelming majority of Americans voluntarily comply with them. Murray describes how civil disobedience backstopped by legal defense funds can make large portions of the 180,000-page Federal Code of Regulations unenforceable, through a targeted program that identifies regulations that arbitrarily and capriciously tell us what to do. Americans have it within their power to make the federal government an insurable hazard like hurricanes and floods, leaving us once again free to live our lives as we see fit..

If you are going to buy it, use the link above....the head Ewok needs a flea dip and a new skinning knife.

posted by Open Blogger at 11:55 AM

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