Broad meadows

I have never understood the need of some people to tell others what to do, how to act. For some, though, this seems to be an obsession, almost a deep need. To be clear, when I use the name Karen, it’s not a misogynistic trope. The gender is irrelevant. Males are every bit as susceptible to this dark spirit.

Perhaps the most extreme example in terms of governance is Communism. Always pernicious and self serving and without conscience. In the United States they use petty rules as a reason to expand their sphere of influence. The end goal is the same. The pace is slower, but corrosive of human rights. It is governance for its own sake only.

A couple of examples for me in these terms are the state police and Secretary of State functions. In all the years of seeing the state police “in action “is when I see one sitting in a median, pulling someone over or attending to an accident.The last instance is really only a cautionary and janitorial detail that doesn’t require policing authority. When I went to their website in the spring some months ago, and of the eight headlines or so on the front page, one dealt with crime. The largest police authority in a border state decided that human trafficking was going to be a new emphasis for them. Great.

The Michigan Secretary of State is responsible for the execution of Michigans elections. In 2020, in spite of video evidence that was time, date and place stamped, that was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the election was tampered with, neither the state police or the secretary of state’s office did anything about it. Nor did the district attorney’s office. I haven’t looked for or seen that video since the days after the election, but I will never forget it.

While it’s not a new practice in the U.S., homeowners associations are an extrajudicial practice that is allowed to take place where a board or a member of board can impose fine on people living in their neighborhood, often times for very small reasons of events that take place on other people’s property. It’s a ludicrous practice in a country that is meant for self governance. In one video that I have seen recently, a board member of an HOA was in someone’s back yard (uninvited) taking a picture of a flower that the homeowner had planted in their own backyard. His intent was to fine the person for not submitting paperwork to him for the “project”. The property also had a privacy fence that had to be breached. I think all people want their neighbors to take care of their property, but the ability of some random group of people to come onto your property and dictate in anyway what happens there is clearly a form of injustice. In most cities and counties, there are property laws already in place, so the need or desire for an HOA is dubious at best. But it also clearly brings out the worst in some people.

The point of the above examples, some official and some not, that this desire to be other people’s business and to order them around, is not an American or constitutional idea. It is meant to squash that ideal. On the official side, if the department refuses to do what is meant to do, that is, serve them the public’s interest and exists only to support itself, it is unnecessary and should not continue. Seriously, should we have to re register our cars every year? And for what service? Or should the police be able to take a significant amount of money from someone going 10 miles over some arbitrarily set speed limit? As someone who is on the road everyday, in Michigan the speed limit is considered the floor and not the ceiling and to drive otherwise is not safe on the highways. State governments replace working traffic signals with new signals while roads deteriorate. You might as well burn the money, because the only one being helped is the maker of the light. They get closer together, more phases and yet they are what make an intersection dangerous.

All of these things add up to tyranny by the few. And it doesn’t stop there.