It may well be early in the week that an effort of mine is appearing in the TFP, but "Consumer Protection Act" is in fact a timely warning for those of you looking at levies on the ballot in two weeks.
Many have called this next election a defining one, but they're talking about changes in the direction of the ship of state in Washington and not about the local level. There is a convergence however, in that citizens will be asked to vote about whether they are willing to exchange personal freedom and personal responsibility for continued or enhanced protection from the government for any and every poor personal choice made. How this is decided may well have an impact on corporations as well as people (something I go into).
Since it is so early, I have no idea what might be ahead in either the mid-week 'Star' edition or next weekend's; but I do know that the only way you'll be able to keep up (whether in popular culture or in news and events) is to keep your eyes open for Toledo's largest circulation Sunday newspaper ... which, for the fourth year in a row also happens to be Ohio's best weekly newspaper, The Toledo Free Press.
In the payday lending laws passed recently here in Ohio, our legislators sought to protect us from the predatory lending practices of so called "Pay Day Lenders" who charge a fixed fee for a short term loan. This law was passed so that these potential bad guys could not rip us off, allowing us instead to go to banks.
On May 23rd we signed into law House Resolution 627, the "Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights". (By the way, spellcheck just told me that Cardholder isn't a word. Of course it also told me that spellcheck isn't a word.)
This newly signed law was designed to protect us from predatory banks who charge too high an interest rate or change the rules on credit limits arbitrarily.
You know, now that I think about it a little more, government has been protecting us from a lot lately:
- They took over the mortgage and mortgage insurance businesses to protect us from predatory lenders.
- They took over the banking industry to protect us from ... the banking industry.
- They took over GM and Chrysler to insure that US automakers would build the 'right kind' of cars for the future (whether we want to buy them or not).
- They just raised the CAFE standards in the US, to protect us from gas guzzling cars.
- This will likewise protect us from the greenhouse gases that those cars produce, which in turn will help protect us from "Man-made Global Warming" (a theory which is falling into greater disfavor every day).
Protecting us is something that government has been doing for a while, though sometimes with less than favorable results:
- They protect us with Social Security, a government controlled retirement program (ponzi scheme) which is now all but bankrupt and little able therefore to serve its original function.
- They protect us with Medicare, a limited form of the national health care program which they would like to turn the entire health care system into, which is likewise all but bankrupt and barely able to serve its original function.
- They protect us with Mandatory seat belt laws, assuming that we have neither the good sense or the ability to decide whether wearing a seatbelt is in our best interests (and in some cases, it hasn't been).
- They protect us with regulations for automobile air bags, regardless of the fact that these safety devices have sometimes proved less than safe when they deployed.
- They protect us from harmful chemicals like DDT, which has been proven to be effective in controlling mosquitoes that spread malaria, something that kills far more.
- They protect us from irradiated food, which there is no proof causes any harm, but the lack of which may contribute to numerous food poisoning situations.
- They protect us from nuclear power plants with endless regulations and road blocks, while failing to protect us from the serious power shortages that failing to build such plants engenders.
Now I know that government was designed to do some limited form of protecting. It was designed to protect its citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic. It should likewise protect me from criminal behavior as defined by the rule of law. It should even protect me from other people trying to infringe on my freedoms. I am beginning to think however, that government has become just a little too fond in recent years of protecting me from things whether I need it or not, and whether I want it or not. So my question for all of you out there (and I think that I already know the answer) are two:
- When did government become a Protection Racket?
- Who will protect us against our protectors?
