Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
-Benjamin Franklin
Well, I suppose this means that attacks on freedom were happening way back in the 1700's!
History repeats itself, my friends.
Count on it.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Trashing Freedom
Something is very wrong in California.
The mayor of San Fransisco, Gavin Newsom, has proposed new legislation that may, if it passes, be a big step toward big government.
The proposition is: Either residents of San Fransisco recycle their garbage, or they face fines of 'up to $500 for the first violation, $750 for the second in one year and $1,000 for the third in a year' (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/20
08/08/01/MN47122A98.DTL). The garbage-sorting chart regulations are no less severe.*
If an individual or household fails to comply with the ordinance and the trash collector (who must check the issued color-coded containers briefly to ensure they hold the proper trash items) finds trash sorted into the wrong bins, their garbage container will be marked with a small tag. Brett Stav, a planning and development specialist at Seattle Public Utilities (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/20
08/08/01/MN47122A98.DTL) commented that
"When you're the one guy on the block with the little tag on your garbage can, everyone knows you screwed up. There's a little bit of shame, a 'Scarlet Letter' effect, to this program that seems to work with people."
So what is he going to do - embarrass people into submission?
Tyranny comes in all shapes and forms - most notably, government influence on the lives of citizens. Yes, they may want to be 'greener,' and control landfills by forcing their citizens to live under strict regulations, but they are restricting the freedom of the people in the process. Once the government (state, city or otherwise) can tell people how to throw away their garbage (the smaller aspects of life), then eventually they may try to tell them what to eat, how to live, etc (the bigger aspects of life). Don't think that the government does not constantly want more control than they have. Tyranny is a progressive occurrence - the small changes build to bigger changes and suddenly, no one knows how it began.
As Mayor Gavin Newsom so disturbingly put it, "We don't want to fine people. We want to change behavior."
*
The mayor of San Fransisco, Gavin Newsom, has proposed new legislation that may, if it passes, be a big step toward big government.
The proposition is: Either residents of San Fransisco recycle their garbage, or they face fines of 'up to $500 for the first violation, $750 for the second in one year and $1,000 for the third in a year' (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/20
08/08/01/MN47122A98.DTL). The garbage-sorting chart regulations are no less severe.*
If an individual or household fails to comply with the ordinance and the trash collector (who must check the issued color-coded containers briefly to ensure they hold the proper trash items) finds trash sorted into the wrong bins, their garbage container will be marked with a small tag. Brett Stav, a planning and development specialist at Seattle Public Utilities (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/20
08/08/01/MN47122A98.DTL) commented that
"When you're the one guy on the block with the little tag on your garbage can, everyone knows you screwed up. There's a little bit of shame, a 'Scarlet Letter' effect, to this program that seems to work with people."
So what is he going to do - embarrass people into submission?
Tyranny comes in all shapes and forms - most notably, government influence on the lives of citizens. Yes, they may want to be 'greener,' and control landfills by forcing their citizens to live under strict regulations, but they are restricting the freedom of the people in the process. Once the government (state, city or otherwise) can tell people how to throw away their garbage (the smaller aspects of life), then eventually they may try to tell them what to eat, how to live, etc (the bigger aspects of life). Don't think that the government does not constantly want more control than they have. Tyranny is a progressive occurrence - the small changes build to bigger changes and suddenly, no one knows how it began.
As Mayor Gavin Newsom so disturbingly put it, "We don't want to fine people. We want to change behavior."
*
| BLUE CART (RECYCLING) | ||
| Paper | Glass, aluminum | Plastic |
| Cardboard, cereal boxes (without lining), computer paper, paper egg cartons, envelopes (windows OK), junk mail, brochures, magazines, newspapers, phone books. | Aluminum cans, aluminum foil, glass bottles and jars, including metal caps and lids. | All plastic bottles, all plastic tubs and lids, plastic containers and clamshells, plastic cups and plates. |
| GREEN CART (COMPOST) | ||
| Food | Paper | Plants |
| Fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, bones, rice, beans, pasta, bread, cheese, eggshells. | Waxed cardboard, napkins, paper towels, paper, plates, paper milk cartons, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters. | Flower trimmings, tree trimmings, leaves, grass, brush and weeds. |
| BLACK CART (LANDFILL) |
Ceramic dishes and cups, coat hangers, lightbulbs (no fluorescents), mirrors, plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic wrap, potato chip bags, Styrofoam packaging, window glass. |
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