Our country sacrifices a lot on the altar of so-called safety. Crises are often used as an excuse for “the government” to use a heavy hand in controlling people and actions they (“the government”) deem a threat. Usually it’s a threat to their power. But the justification offered by the government is to protect the well-being of the citizenry. And the citizenry, convinced they are in mortal peril, is only too happy to yield their hard-won rights as free citizens–in the name of “safety.” It’s happening again–this time in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, where unelected regulators have ordered a private business, National Grid, to cease all work on its natural gas pipeline system following a minor incident of too much pressure.
Our country sacrifices a lot on the altar of so-called safety. Crises are often used as an excuse for “the government” to use a heavy hand in controlling people and actions they (“the government”) deem a threat. Usually it’s a threat to their power. But the justification offered by the government is to protect the well-being of the citizenry. And the citizenry, convinced they are in mortal peril, is only too happy to yield their hard-won rights as free citizens–in the name of “safety.” It’s happening again–this time in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, where unelected regulators have ordered a private business, National Grid, to cease all work on its natural gas pipeline system following a minor incident of too much pressure.