Progressives Crave Control

These are a few highly visible examples of expanding government control. The more insidious expansions of government control do not make the news. All along the coastlines of the United States, for example, the federal government is taking control over the lives of citizens who depend upon fishing and tourism for their livelihood. The National Marine Fisheries Service is preparing to stop all fishing for red snapper off the southeastern coast, claiming that the species is nearing extinction. Government-paid scientists provide reports to justify this action. Scientists from private universities, however, the Southeastern Fisheries Association and more than a thousand citizens presented evidence to the federal bureaucrats demonstrating that the government reports were flawed; that actually, the number of red snapper is increasing. Obama’s bureaucrats ignore the citizens’ concerns. On the outer banks of North Carolina, entire communities are being shut down because the federal bureaucrats have listed the Piping Plover as a threatened species. Tourists can no longer even walk on the beaches that have been closed. The National Park Service told Bob, who for 32 years has owned and operated the Red Drum Tackle Shop, that he was still young enough to go find something else to do. It’s not only the National Park Service, but the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Agriculture, the EPA, and the Corps of Engineers as well, all have been systematically forcing people off their land. Kit Laney went to jail because he tried to keep the feds from confiscating his cattle. Ocie Mills spent nearly two years in jail for dumping sand on his own property. Bob Brace fought for more than 12 years in federal court for the right to convert his own pasture into a cabbage patch. Progressives in government – at every level – continue to expand the scope of control over how people live...more