I Don’t Want to get Involved:
Good Morning
I wrote an article yesterday that talked about Americans being so overregulated that we spend much of our time mired in red tape rather than living the good life. We have in a sense created our own demise by sending 535 lawyers to Congress who spend every waking hour making up laws that hurt the citizenry but certainly benefit the legal profession.
How did this once great nation get its start…through massive regulation and taxation? Well, sort of. The English taxed and regulated our founders to a point that they rebelled and right after the ensuing war, began a country where men and women were free.
From these free and capable people emerged the greatest nation that the world has ever seen. But, we simply couldn’t stand the prosperity and somewhere along the way, we determined that being ruled and regulated to the hilt was the way to go…again.
We have strayed so far off that path that we can’t see our once free lifestyle with binoculars. Every year, thousands of laws are created. I don’t know why; we don’t obey the first 10. Or, the one golden rule.
“So what would it be like to live free,” I hear you ask. “And is it possible or just a dream?” I’m so glad that you asked, I was dying to tell you.
I had the distinct pleasure of living in the Alaskan
I observed that small groups of people necessarily self govern. Let’s take crime for example; of which we had none. I first moved into a rental house where I was told, “Be sure not to lock the doors, we don’t have any keys.”
So were all of the people who came and went totally honest? Not necessarily, but they wanted to remain in a state of health that would allow the mobility to continue to come and go. Ya see, the public in Talkeetna at the time were comprised of hearty folks that would shoot your tired carcass should you decide to stray too far from the law.
“Hold on there just a minute, you just told us you didn’t have any law.” No, I said no paid law enforcement. All the law that we ever needed was the first 10 that I referred to earlier.
Today, on Main Street America, the good citizens close their curtains to keep from witnessing a crime. In Talkeetna we left them open in the event that our neighbors needed some help.
We have allowed the bad guys to take over in most of our supposed civilized
I once saw an actual television program that was designed to instruct city dwellers in methods of shopping at the mall without getting mugged (I’m not making this up). They suggested that you go in numbers and park as near the building as possible. Women should carry their purse zipped up with the strap around their neck. Keep your car doors locked and windows up, even if it’s 120 degrees in the shade.
I like my plan better; I’ll call it the Talkeetna Plan. Go to the mall with $100 bills sticking out of your purse and pockets. When someone tries to take them, pull out your pistol and shoot the scum. This is a proven way to deter muggers.
Wake up


There are several little villages near me similar to the Talkeetna you describe. I won’t mention the names to help preserve the atmosphere of these places a while longer. I can see a trend the past 10 years for people to seek out these little relics from the past. It would be a good thing to grow and promote with the coming economic situations. People helping each other and watching out for each other. The problems I see is the majority of the new neighbors moving in have very different wants, than the people who live there. What made these places unique is destroyed by people demanding the things they don’t really need from the places they moved from. If you have been to Talkeetna, in recent years, I am sure you have seen the same degredation.
Truly informed citizens, no matter where they live is what our nation really needs now, but the majority still have jobs and really see no need to get involved. As you well know, the very minute our nation became unconcerned with how our government was being run, is when we started this trip to the bottom. It will play out with the ignorance you can witness from every corner of our land until there is nothing left to play; then hopefully there are enough pieces left to put it all back together again. Don’t count on it though. We are seeing millions of people who don’t know and don’t care; to know. Laziness and apathy is muc deadlier than a gu could ever be.
Hi Mike.
I moved to Talkeetna in the early 70’s.. Pretty much like you describe it.. A delicate balance between helping others, and minding our own business.. It’s all about the balanced.. But, it’s changed quite a bit since you left.. It keeps moving in.. I may move further out.. Keep up the good work!!
wma
To a great degree, circumstances are what control our actions. Those circumstances are about to change.
I had a conversation with a gentleman earlier today who was talking about Toyota buiding so many new plants in the U.S. and doing well compared the U.S. auto makers.
I told him that I thought Toyota had overestimated the U.S. market. His response was that people have to buy some brand of new car so why not Toyota?
I said, no, they don’t have to buy a car at all and we may very well find that in the near future, many simply can’t afford to own a car. I could see that it was the first time that he had ever considered that possibility.
“Too much good is bad.”
Hey Mike, Your reasoning is the basically the same one used for states rights. If we can get more power pulled back to the state level then we can work on moving more down to counties and so on. I personally feel that the states should be charged with collecting “federal” income and other taxes so they would have more control over it than the Feds. One more step in the line before the feds get it would allow We, the people to exert more guidelines as to how the money would be used and reel in the lunacy we now have in DC. Here again if we can get it back to the state level then we can work on getting it down to county or city levels. It is for sure that We need to get a great deal of control over not only our country but our “representatives” also. Maybe we should turn DC into a big feed lot for Congresspersons. They do seem to think in a bovine or sheepish way. Take it easy Mike!
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Michael,
I’m afraid that as unemployment climbs that we totally take our eye off the ball and fall for some Government work program, just like the depression.
All that would do, would be to put off the enevitable crash until we reached a higher speed.
But to the point of this article, until such time that we take some control and responsibility for our own lives, nothing will change.
Mike,
I like the sentiment of the article but I’m a bit disappointed in your simplistic framing of the founding of this country. From what I’ve read in your articles you seem to be enlightened but I find it difficult to reconcile that with what seems to be a regurgitation of the historic myth about the founding of this country. I find it ironic that you use life in an Alaskan village as an example of what life should be like but don’t mention the fact that in our effort to create a “free” society we decimated many cultures that lived exactly that way. Maybe what we are experiencing today are just desserts?
jtingle,
Perhaps I should have framed the article a little differently, but it’s hard to accomplish an overall concept in one article.
I can’t change history, I can only learn from it or in this case, chronicle my observations. My observations of my life in Talkeetna were that we cared more about one another in that village than I see demonstrated today, nothing heavier than that.
As far as simplistic, I am in fact the King of Simple. While I have a firm grasp of history and the injustices that were committed, I have full time job doing my best to save the live ones.
Thanks for the comment.