By Nathan Barton
The current fad is cyberbullying. But there is still a lot of the regular kind, all over the Fifty States. Bullying is wrong, no? It is, when it involves “children” (which include teens under 18), illegal: it is “child abuse,” and even parents can be found guilty of it.
Unless, of course, the bully is the government, or someone else using government. Then, it is apparently part of the society and culture and government.
This case has all the classic symptoms of both government-stupidity and child abuse. According to The Free Thought Project, the City of Gardendale, Alabama is taking action against teens who mow grass and don’t have a $110 business license, after a local businessman filed a complaint against his competitors. (TFTP is reposting a video news article from ABC 33/40, a local station.)
The legal action is being used as a hammer by some “private entity” who uses the government (local, in this case) as a tool of aggression against someone he doesn’t like. He figures he can beat up, indirectly, on a powerless teen. And the city agrees that it will use its “police powers” to go after nonconforming teens who don’t cough up the money or stop competing.
The city’s mayor moans about how wrong this is, but instead of seeking to eliminate the bureaucratic scheme to fill city coffers with “business license” fees, wants to make the system more elaborate so that teens and children can contribute their fair share to the budget, thereby making the city a clear enabler and co-conspirator to the child abuse.
Nobody is willing to point out the obvious – why does the city have ANY power to require ANY entity – whether teen willing to work for spending money or business person trying to make a living – pay a fee (of ANY amount) to the city for the “privilege” of doing business? Can anyone show me in ANY document where this power comes from and what makes it moral? Any more moral than a local mob runner going from store to store or house to house demanding “protection money?”
Nobody is willing to take action to demand that the city’s immoral law and extortion attempt be done away with; instead they just whinge to the media and beg the politicians for some mercy. No one is willing to take action against the thuggish businessman so afraid of the competition from a teenage girl that he gets government involved.
And until people DO point out the obvious and take action, this sort of thing will become more and more common, and local tyranny (along with every other kind) will grow and grow.
Enough is enough.
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
Classic
By Nathan Barton
The current fad is cyberbullying. But there is still a lot of the regular kind, all over the Fifty States. Bullying is wrong, no? It is, when it involves “children” (which include teens under 18), illegal: it is “child abuse,” and even parents can be found guilty of it.
Unless, of course, the bully is the government, or someone else using government. Then, it is apparently part of the society and culture and government.
This case has all the classic symptoms of both government-stupidity and child abuse. According to The Free Thought Project, the City of Gardendale, Alabama is taking action against teens who mow grass and don’t have a $110 business license, after a local businessman filed a complaint against his competitors. (TFTP is reposting a video news article from ABC 33/40, a local station.)
The legal action is being used as a hammer by some “private entity” who uses the government (local, in this case) as a tool of aggression against someone he doesn’t like. He figures he can beat up, indirectly, on a powerless teen. And the city agrees that it will use its “police powers” to go after nonconforming teens who don’t cough up the money or stop competing.
The city’s mayor moans about how wrong this is, but instead of seeking to eliminate the bureaucratic scheme to fill city coffers with “business license” fees, wants to make the system more elaborate so that teens and children can contribute their fair share to the budget, thereby making the city a clear enabler and co-conspirator to the child abuse.
Nobody is willing to point out the obvious – why does the city have ANY power to require ANY entity – whether teen willing to work for spending money or business person trying to make a living – pay a fee (of ANY amount) to the city for the “privilege” of doing business? Can anyone show me in ANY document where this power comes from and what makes it moral? Any more moral than a local mob runner going from store to store or house to house demanding “protection money?”
Nobody is willing to take action to demand that the city’s immoral law and extortion attempt be done away with; instead they just whinge to the media and beg the politicians for some mercy. No one is willing to take action against the thuggish businessman so afraid of the competition from a teenage girl that he gets government involved.
And until people DO point out the obvious and take action, this sort of thing will become more and more common, and local tyranny (along with every other kind) will grow and grow.
Enough is enough.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.