STEEL PENCIL NEW REVIEW

MAY 19, 2024

VOLUME 60

POLITICALLY INCORRECT CENTER-RIGHT PERSPECTIVE OF CURRENT NEWS EVENTS

ARE AMERICANS AS FREE AS WE THINK WE ARE, OR ARE WE KIDDING OURSELVES?

This article has been on my mind for several years. I think about it, and then I back out, thinking I am going to be perceived as anti-American, which is as far from the truth as you’re ever going to be. When I’m at a flag raising ceremony which is a couple of times a year, it is extremely emotional for me. When I watch the flag being hoisted while the National Anthem is being played, I am overwhelmed by the thoughts of all of the patriots that died defending this great nation. Some of them suffering from the most horrific injuries you can imagine. But in the past thirty odd years, we have entered into a whole new world, way different than eighty or so years ago right after WW2.

So, I guess I’ll start by asking the question; how do you define freedom? This is where my brain starts splintering into an overwhelming number of different answers. Let’s start with real basic stuff. You should be allowed to progress from birth to adulthood, without any outside influences regarding your gender, your choice of education, or your choice of occupation that you believe would make you happy. All of those things are your personal freedoms and should not be interfered with by others with ulterior motives. You should be allowed to attend the schools of your choice regardless of your race or religion. You should be able to gain entrance to schools of higher education based on your academic achievements, without any consideration of your ethnicity. Everything that I just mentioned above, has literally been shredded in the past 30 or 40 years. Not all at once, no, they would never have been able to get away with that. They have chipped away little by little, and those freedoms have evaporated, and you hardly noticed.

What is more basic than the freedom to own a home? Wow, you’re so excited buying your first home. If you’re lucky, it’s a home you want to spend the rest of your life in. You set goal to pay extra toward the principle on the mortgage, so you can actually own your property, it’s all yours. Nope, it’s not yours, it never will be. Even though you hold the title free and clear, you only get to keep your home as long as you pay the property taxes. When you stop paying property taxes, the state government forecloses and takes your home. The same thing happens if you get behind on your income taxes, the feds confiscate everything you own, including your home. You will pay on that home as long as you live there…period. There is no escape from taxation, no matter how hard you try. “The man” owns you and everything you acquire in life.

So you have been living happily in your home for 20 years, your family has grown and you would like to add on to it, make it larger and more comfortable. I mean you deserve it, you paid for it, you’re making a really nice salary. Boy, are you in for a surprise. The city planning commission will want to see the plans to see if it complies with all of the city codes and regulations. They are going to make you take out a building permit, that could be expensive and take months. If you live in a neighborhood with a HOA, they will likely have a selection of colors you have to choose from, and style of roofing materials that you’re are allowed to use. The city inspector will want to see if the construction meets code. Then the city will have to sign off on it for you to get your certificate of occupancy. Then when you’re all done, your house is now worth more money, so the tax assessor will raise your property taxes accordingly. Of course you could sell it and cash out, collecting all of that cold hard cash from the monetary appreciation that has taken place since you bought it 20 years ago. That can be a hefty sum, but don’t get all giddy. Unless you invest in another property within a certain time frame, the IRS will want their cut, aptly called capital gains.

Let’s talk about your automobile. Don’t even think about using it on a public road unless it is registered with the state, with a visible license plate, and tag showing you are currently paid up with the state. You will get a hefty fine if it isn’t insured. A lot of states have laws that say your vehicle has to pass a safety inspection and another tag is assigned to your car, usually displayed on your windshield. Surely, some of these things protect other motorists, but the state cleverly realizes how much you need your automobile and you will readily pay for the privilege of driving it. More revenue for “the man”. Oh, wait a minute, you can’t drive without gasoline, so let’s add some more taxes on gas. How often do you even think about the gasoline taxes? Do you even know what percentage of your gasoline dollar goes to taxes? I don’t, what difference would it make.

If you stay abreast of current events, which you should, you will become aware of the increased crime, and decreased police protection. So, you think it’s probably wise to own a firearm for home protection. Good idea. Shouldn’t be a problem, the bill of rights says it’s within my rights to own a gun. It’s called the second amendment. Nope, the anti-gun folks have all but killed that right. You can still own a gun, but holy cow, you have to jump through a lot of hoops. Now some states have the “red flag” law. You better make sure you don’t piss anyone off that knows you own that gun, you could end up having it confiscated, even if the reason is based on a lie. If you are involved in a domestic violence offense, they can make sure you are not allowed to own a gun in the future. But wait a minute you say, I didn’t cause the problem. It don’t matter, they are just happy to make you a former gun owner, without a chance of becoming a future gun owner. They hate guns.

Well hell, since I can’t hunt anymore, I’m going fishing you say. Not without a license you aren’t. If you buy a boat, even a small one, it has to be licensed as well before you go sailing off on your fishing excursion. Also, you better be able to identify the fish you catch, it may not be the proper season for that fish, and you could get a hefty fine for catching that smelly little bugger. Even if the fish you catch is not restricted by a time period, it better be big enough to keep, or you’re in trouble again. OK, you’re good, all of your fish are the right size, in the right season, but if you’re caught with more than you’re allowed, another big fine is coming your way. Anyway, if you add up all of the money you spend on gear, license, boat, gasoline to get to the fishing hole, gasoline to get back home, you’re way better off to stop in at the Safeway, and buy the fish of your choice, and spend all of that extra money you saved on beer. So far there’s no restriction on beer unless you drive after drinking it. Don’t think you can get by with riding your horse home from the bar while drunk, that’s illegal too. Even your riding lawnmower will get you in trouble while drunk.

A few years ago, I bought a high end drone with a fabulous camera, with a motorized gimbal that rotated a full 360 degrees plus up and down. You could adjust the exposure on the camera while in flight to get the best possible video or snapshot. It has a range of over one mile, and a flight time of close to 30 minutes at 40 miles per hour. The controller told you how much battery life you had remaining and gave you a warning if you were too far out. This was literally like flying a full-on aircraft. The purchase price was just over $4,000.00. This aircraft was large and amazing to fly. But I was restricted from flying over people or highways unless I had a pilot’s license equivalent to a manned aircraft, actually the same exact test. But I could have a limited license called a sport license that allowed me to fly over non populated areas. With the sports license I was not allowed to sell any photos I took. My drone had to be registered with the FAA and it had official FAA license number on it same as the Cessna flying out of the local airport. OK, I was willing to put up with all of that, bending the law a little here and there, but the straw that broke the camel’s back for me, was the FAA was going to make me fit it with a transponder at the beginning of 2004. I threw in the towel and sold it.

Years ago, when I was much younger and highly energetic, I bought cheap cars with issues, fixed them and maybe threw in a cheap paint job and flipped them for a quick profit. Being a law-abiding citizen, I registered them within legal the time frame, and turned in all of the proper paperwork when I sold them. I wanted to make sure everything was legal and above board. It wasn’t long before the state of California sent me a notice that if sold one more car that year I would have to become a dealer. So, I looked into what was required to be a dealer, no way could I afford to do that. I started buying cars telling the sellers not to date the paperwork, then when I sold them, I simply passed the paperwork on to the new owner and my name didn’t show up anywhere. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.

The first time I tried to have a legal business out of my home, I established a fictitious business name, AKA dba. As soon as you do that it is published in a local newspaper, and the city immediately sends you notice that you have to have a city business license. So, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out to open a bank account in your own personal name, and make sure your customers make the checks out to you personally, leaving off any indication it is a business. Your bank will take care of the transactions without any problems, and you are under the radar. Take your books to the accountant, operating as a sole proprietor. The minute the government knows your are conducting a business of any type, they immediately put out their claws to get their share.

Being a private contractor used to be a great gig. I made some very good money in California as a private contractor/ consultant. Then the state got greedy and started making laws that pretty much killed the ability to do that. If the states think you have found a way around giving them a share of your earnings, they’ll find a way to stop it.

When the phrase “land of the free” was coined, it was probably mostly correct. Today, not so much. I was watching a police show from Florida a few weeks ago, they got a call that a couple of folks were engaged in sexual intercourse at the bus stop. When they arrived, a black guy and a white gal were in fact fully engaged. They were both arrested as you would imagine. One more thing you aren’t free to do, as much as you may want to.

VERITAS VINCIT ~ LIVE FREE OR DIE