RE: The Decline of Freedom

From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Aug 07 2002 - 16:40:25 MDT


> Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> What you were free to do in 1850 but not now:
>
> 1. sell your child to the highest bidder

People still have this freedom in many, if not most, states. The state
only desires to make sure the buyer isn't going to abuse the received
goods.

> 2. own a working artillery piece

People also have this freedom, though it is highly regulated. I think
that if more people exercised this freedom, government would be in a
far less onerous state.

> 3. practice medicine without a license

Depends on what you mean by 'practicing medicine'. If you mean hawking
quack herbal remedies with little real medicinal worth to ignorant
hayseeds, as 99% of medicine was in the 19th century, such is still
quite legal and profitable today. I can buy tonics at the local gas
station with echinacea, ginseng, ginko, aloe vera, taurine, among other
ingredients under a number of brand names, the producers of which have
no MD, neither does the cashier at the gas station, and neither do I.

> 4. discriminate against whomever you pleased for
> any reason you pleased

This is generally still a freedom, you just have to know how to do it
politely and non-overtly. For example, if you think that a woman
applying for a job is too large breasted, or a man or woman is too fat
to work with or for you, you can tell he/r she or he is
'overqualified'....

> 5. buy and sell merchandise in your home

Ever heard of Amway or EBay?

> 6. shoot at robbers and burglars

This is still a right in a supermajority of US states, though most
generally frown at shooting them when they are running away...

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:15:57 MST