I knew we were in trouble in this country when the government banned lawn darts. Those dreaded lawn darts, the scourge of the earth, were responsible for a total of two deaths (out of a country of 250 million). So, of course the hand of big brother had to act and rid the world of this reckless evil. In 1988, the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of lawn darts. Joining the campaign to save the world from lawn darts, Canada banned the “accidents waiting to happen” the next year. Of course, banning something doesn’t end the horror. Like the attempt at prohibition and the out-right banning of handguns in Chicago, the banning of lawn darts didn’t end the misery. More than ten years after the banning of lawn darts, deaths from lawn darts continued at a pace of 50%, Yes, one other person died after the ban, bringing the grand total of death due to lawn darts to three. Yes, three. Meanwhile, BB guns, which everyone knows can “put someone’s eye out,” are still on the market. What is wrong with big brother? Can’t his hand extend far enough to save our eye sight? I know that the government nanny-state didn’t start with lawn darts, but to me it has to be the most ridiculous example of government over-regulation in modern history. We had lawn darts when I was a kid and no one, no one, ever even came close to being hurt. As rugged individualists, we recognized the fact that throwing stuff across the yard might break something or hurt someone. So, we were careful. We didn’t need the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect us from ourselves. I’m sure the Consumer Product Safety Commission (when did we ever vote to have that?) is an important agency, costing millions of tax-payer dollars to protect us from ourselves. But, isn’t that kind of like taxation without representation? Some agency, we didn’t vote for or vote to fund, is interfering with our annual Memorial Day family lawn dart tournament. Obviously, the point of this article isn’t lawn darts. It’s about growing government that the average American has no say in and that over-regulates our lives like Big Brother or Big Nanny “in our best interests.” Everywhere we turn, we are being regulated and taxed by some agency, at all levels of government. There are so many regulations we don’t even have a prayer of knowing what they are, until we violate them and have to pay the price. I once lived in a Chicago suburb where they attempted to fine me for having my garbage can in front of my house by my garage, instead of behind my house. They told me it was in the village regulation book. I asked why they didn’t tell us about that regulation and they threw an encyclopedic rule book on the desk and said there were too many regulations to tell everybody what all the regulations were. That was just in one small village. The state and federal regulations are like the sands in the sea or the stars in the sky compared to that village rule book. And, they are still growing, sometimes with negative unintended consequences or a complete inability to bring about the desired nanny effect. The banning of DDT actually cost more lives in Africa from people dying from thriving insects. Prohibition didn’t stop people from drinking and banning hand guns in Chicago didn’t save the 13 people who died in one weekend recently, when over 40 people were shot in the Windy City, where handguns are “illegal.” Ecological hysteria, rather than “wise use” or “resource management,” has cost us energy independence, by banning off-shore drilling and drilling in Alaska, brought about the elimination of new refineries and stopped the expansion of nuclear power plants. Say hello to $4 a gallon gas and a slowing economy. Oh, by the way, the government, which does nothing to produce a gallon of gas, takes more in taxes at the pump than the oil companies profit. All three presidential candidates don’t seem to be inclined to want to stem the tide of growing government over-regulation. So, be prepared to pay more for being told by some government agency that we can’t do something else we enjoy or make a profit from. I’m sure it will be for some lofty nanny-state reason. But take heart, at least they saved us from lawn darts.
