All Hail the Nanny-State

A strange culture of emergency has taken over this country, and the slightest provocation triggers it. It could be an expected terrorist or just an old-fashioned weather warning. The officials are quick to swing into action, and tell you what to do.

The problem is that these demands are often based on nothing other than government plans that are not in your best interest. It behooves all of us to think carefully about genuine preparedness, which might often involve bucking the system and telling the emergency nazis to mind their own business. (Lew Rockwell)

Joshua pointed this article out, I have not had a lot of time to read much on the Net so I am happy that he did. A month or so ago he and I contemporaneously discussed the concept of survivalist and preparedness. It is an interesting topic for me, Blackfive covered the topic recently, it was overall a good read.

I suppose as a country boy/former boy scout/life time soldier I take this survival/preparedness stuff for granted. I am never without a "bug-out" bag no matter where I am and no matter what I am doing.

The notion that only the government can possibly know best is fundamentally flawed in almost every conceivable circumstance. I recall the last time my children were enrolled in a government run school receiving a memorandum one day laying out the school's plan for emergency situations.

This plan included shuttling the children to an undisclosed location, refusing to allow them to call home and not allowing parents to come to the school and pick their children up once an "emergency" was declared but before the government workers took them into hiding.

I was irate that night. My wife was upset but not to the extent I was. That was the seminal event that essentially pushed me over the edge and helped me convince my wife that there were many reasons that our children should be educated elsewhere (there were of course many other good reasons but this act of insanity was a big motivator for me).

This is but a small example of the very dangerous mindset that has overtaken our government and has been meekly accepted by most docile Americans.