On this blog, you often find us arguing against the so-called “Nanny State”. You may not be even 100% sure what we mean by the term, but it’s not a difficult one to grasp. I means exactly what you think it means. Part of the reason I argue against it so much is that it get’s the government involved in things that they shouldn’t be.
Take, for example, this woman in Michigan. She’s facing fines and possible jail time. What did this hardened criminal do? Did she make Meth? Is she part of an international drug cartel? Not exactly. This insidious mastermind is responsible for watching kids for less than an hour a day!!!
Her name is Lisa Snyder. The school bus picks up the neighborhood kids right in front of her house. So, she opens up her home to these kids for the 15-40 minutes while waiting on the bus. Now, the Michigan Department of Human Services has gotten involved and threatened the woman with fines and possible jail time for running a supposed day care without a license. Yes, as a matter of fact, this is a special kind of stupid.
Then, we have the case of an Indiana grandmother who was arrested on drug charges. Her crime? She bought a second box of pseudoephedrine within a one week span, which ran her afoul of anti-meth regulations. Now, it’s important to note that no one accuses her of producing Methamphetamine or anything else unsavory. Nope. The grandmother of triplets bought extra pseudoephedrine. The details:
When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.
Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.
“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.
Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.
Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.
When government starts trying to decide what is for your own good, this is what happens. Parents should be free to decide who will watch their children, license or not. While a certification program isn’t a bad idea, and can tell a parent that this sitter has completed certain training and criteria, where does any state get off telling me who I can have watch my children.
Then, we have an over the counter cold medicine that, by itself, is relatively harmless. No one argues that. Two boxes of cold medicine is grounds for arrest? The limits that are placed on that medicine are ridiculous to say the least. We have a grandmother who picked up some medicine for her family. That’s all.
Yes, I understand, Meth is bad. I get it. But no one is accusing this woman of making Meth. That’s what crosses the line.
Any and all regulation can be used in similar ways. Both of these cases involve laws that people thought were for the betterment of society. However, a few of us saw the rise of the Nanny State in these measures. Now, you have people helping out others and being penalized for it. That’s all both of these cases really are.
“Sensible” regulations will never exist. As government grows, it wants more and more power. There are no “right people” to put in charge. Even if there were, there aren’t enough of them to keep them in charge indefinitely. Instead, you’re going to get stupidity like outlined above. After all, they have to justify their budgets.
And, heaven forbid we actually trust people to do the right thing and only punish them when they don’t.
H/T to Reason Magazine’s Hit&Run blog
