Where has the alacrity gone?

......yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of the way. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if government had not sometimes got in its way.
Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience

That is a far cry from the conventional wisdom of today. Paraphrase what David Thoreau said today and you'd be looked at like you are from another world. Then again, the "American People" that Thoreau knew might as well have been, they wouldn't recognize the country they built. I can see them looking around and asking, "What is this 18th century Europe?"

Then again, I have paraphrased about the same thing, the response is "That would never work." Funny, it already had.

The Unintended Consequence of The War on Drugs

Then again, is it unintentional?

The IV Amendment; Repealed in all but Name

Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


Except if it's a Health Inspector, Child Protection Service,oh hell, any government offical for that matter. If this doen't make your blood boil, what will?




We hear a lot of Democrats yelling about the lost civil rights due to the Patriot Act, and rightfully so. The again, we used to hear about States Rights from the Republicans. Yet neither side sticks up for individual property owners and their rights, and we can certainly include the Supreme Court in that group. The police work for the government, so who protects you from it?