Unable to experience the joy that freedom brings, they don’t understand why you would want it. But they do understand that long as you can travel freely, they do not have total control of your life. Make no mistake – your liberty bothers them.
Incapable thus far of directly restricting the movement of our citizens, they have gone after our right to travel freely by attacking our preferred method of transportation, our personal automobiles.
This has come in the form of tolls, HOV lane restrictions, harassment of single occupant commuters, and a bombardment of anti-gasoline propaganda, directed most notably at that great leviathan of the road, the SUV.
Even the hysterical ranting of pious eco-religious zealots has not gotten the job done. Indeed, expensive government programs providing incentives to car-poolers combined with commuter lots, van pools, and the availability of computerized ride sharing data has not had the dramatic effect hoped for. Why? Because people love liberty as much as they love the air they breathe.
The fact is the vast majority of Americans have considered these transportation options. They have listened to the pleas, hysterics, and false claims, and for good reasons have roundly rejected them.
But even a whimsical urge to enjoy and protect our liberty will do. Using liberty to resist compliance with annoying nannies desperate to control our lives is a good reason. Driving around the block simply to annoy them is another.
In this country – at least at the time of this writing – you still have an absolute right to travel to work or to play any way you wish. As long as you are willing to pay for the car, the tags, the taxes, the insurance, the safety inspection, and the gas or diesel, you can still do as you please with your car.
Socialists calling themselves progressives or liberals cannot help themselves. Set upon a course where they believe they may have some chance of success, history tells us they will not back off until they finally pass a law that requires every one to obtain and display a permit to cross state lines – for example, to visit Aunt Flo.
Cars of the future will have computers that record every mile, every gallon of gasoline consumed, and when you car exceeds the approved limit of travel, your visit to Aunt Flo or the Grand Canyon will be a no-no.
Hey, wait a minute! Cars already do this. And toll booths and GPS equipment you currently use can document every mile, every place that you visit.
In a socialistic future don’t think you will be able to sneak off to see somebody in a distant state. Police cars already have devices that screen vehicles’ license plates for computer records about car owners’ failure to pay tickets and taxes. And, with mobile computers and face recognition technology at the disposal of almost any officer, the technology certainly exists to enforce any future travel restrictions.
The greatest justification to discourage your right to travel freely is already well established. The socialists/progressives/liberals have handcuffed our ability to get more oil. How soon will it be until it is an environmental “sin” to use too much gas in your car? The movement to keep you home where they can keep an eye on you is well down the road.
Failure to pay attention to the assault on your liberty today means goodbye America and hello tyranny - tomorrow.