Opus 2025-029: Where Is Robespierre When You Need Him?

I would say it’s time to dial the government back but I think it’s more accurate to say we are past the time when the government needs to be dialed back.

What generates this line of thought was a meme post on a site called “The Daily Time Waster.”  The event being examined in the meme involved fire trucks being sent from the state of Oregon down to help with the emergency in Southern California.  If you’ve been paying attention, you understand that Los Angeles county had just donated a large number of fire trucks and other equipment to Ukraine, and is now paying the price and not having enough to go around.  They called for other states to send help.  Oregon responded.

So far so good.  This is how America is supposed to work.

Enter government control.  According to the meme the fire truck from Oregon was being held up for inspection by the California Department of Transportation.

I could not get it to show up on this blog but it is theoretically from the Oregon Public broadcasting website.  I went there and couldn’t find it.  I don’t know if I’m just looking in the wrong place or if it’s more fake news.

It’s believable because this is the way government works especially in a blue state like California.

This reminds me of what I went through about 30 years ago.  I was making a career change and going into teaching.  I had finished my class work at one university.  I had a job already under an emergency credential program.  I needed the University staff to come and supervise my student teaching.  The school I was attending said they could not come because I was outside their area.  So I went to the university who had jurisdiction in my area.  They refused to supervise me because they could not certify the quality of education that I’ve gotten in the other state university.

Keep in mind these are both state universities.  There was no competition with a private school.  In theory, they both march to the same drummer.  But because of bureaucracy, they said they could not help me.

I ended up dropping out of their programs and entering a private university to finish up my classes and my student teaching.  This is the kind of nonsense that the government does.  It should not surprise us.

You find this in just about every area of government.  You get petty bureaucrats who are very impressed with their own importance and who know what the law states, and what the regulations are, and refuse to work with you.  It could be because they are afraid.  They could be incompetent.  Often I think it is just the lethargy and malaise that comes from being a government employee and knowing that you have power over other people.

We are being ruled by an unelected administrative bureaucracy.  Try to get a building permit.  Try to get an inspection at work you’re having done.  Try to get almost anything done and you run into government bureaucracy’s telling you to stop and jump through the hoops.  It is strangling the country.  It needs to come to a stop.

Was the meme poster accurate?  Was it just a troll to generate hits?  I don’t know, but it is certainly believable because I know how the government of California works.  The problem is I think that this type of mentality is spreading everywhere, even in Texas.

One of the things that Donald Trump talks about is being over regulated.  This is a good example.  Hopefully he will be able to do something about it.

January 20 can’t come soon enough.

homo unius libri