Nanny State

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Australia was founded by 2 groups. (i) Convicts & soldiers (who didn't want to be here) and (ii) free settlers/pioneers. The majority of the population has always lived in towns/cities on the east coast, who have always looked romantically at "free" stockmen and "crocodile dundee" type characters as "mythically real" Australians, when the vast majority have never been outside a city.

Rural Australians are different from city based Australians, especially now there is large non-european migration. There is a significant city:rural divide in attitudes.

States with larger rural populations (South Australia and Queensland) have not yet banned fireworks (not 100% sure about Qld). The caffe' latte' sipping set in Sydney and Melbourne are very "politically correct" and want to ban everything others find fun.

In Victoria, there is a population of approx 5m, with 3.7m in Melbourne. Country people want to look after themselves. City people say "the government ought to do something" and want to be looked after. As a result, you need a permit to buy swords (e.g. to be used in scottish highland dancing, collecting, etc.), fireworks are banned, and we have some of the tightest gun laws in the world.

However, I am happy to report there is a brisk and healthy black market in fireworks from States where they are not yet banned.

Everytime some idiot kills themselves, we get new laws to protect other idiots from themselves. A couple of years ago, someone got drunk, fell out of a fishing boat and drowned. Now in Victoria it is compulsory to wear a lifejacket at all times in a boat under 16m long.

Gamebird (ducks, quail) is now banned in 3/6 States (WA, NSW, Qld). However hunting continues anyway. In NSW there has never been any reduction in the amount of shotgun shells sold following the ban. City people want to ban and control, county people ignore them.

Yeah, I hate when idiots ruin things for everyone.

Every time something bad happens, there's an outcry for Congress to pass laws to make sure it never happens again. I wish people would just accept the fact that these things happen.

Sweden is pretty interesting, because things here are strictly regulated but rarely totally banned. The state would loose a lot of fees and taxes if everything was totally banned.

For example, before we joined the EU (1995) a person was only allowed to take 1 liter of strong liquor, or 2 liters of wine or 5 liters of beer into the country. Now its allowed to take a whole car full of what alcohol you may ever wish, but just a "regular" car. If you fill a van or a small truck, it considered smuggling and will give you high fees and eventually jail.

The drug laws are among the hardest in Europe, yet every addict can get what drug he may want, if he can pay for it.

All this is why a believe in a libertarian state. Give the bastards as little opportunity as possible to f**k things up and keep things slimline and efficient.

Kick the welfare state.

exactly. Our legislators are so reactionary. Every time somebody dies or gets hurts from some stupid and mundane s**t, they just throw more laws on top of other laws. To ease our minds. As Cicero simply said, "The more laws, the less justice."

And... CS Lewis: "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Red tape sucks

Anyone else see the irony in that?

We get the same reaction in the US they pass all kinds of ridiculous laws to protect the idiots I think it would be better to leave things alone and thin the herd a little

I don't see any trouble with a government that goes out of its way to protect its citizens. But we need to make sure it is effective at that goal.

Freedom and safety are opposites.

Yes, that's a big problem here, too. However, although our governments have created and perpetuated the problem, the people don't do themselves any favours. Your behaviour here is a classic example: you believe your freedoms that come with living in the good ol' USA mean you can do what you want and to hell with everyone else. Your reaction when someone challenged you over your avatar is what I'm referring to. Not everyone has a high speed broadband connection, and so I assume that your actions contribute in some small way to others having difficulty with the time it takes to load pages. People with a poorly developed understanding of exactly what freedom entails contribute to the problems faced by our society, you see — though I blame your government more than you. The same kind of reasoning applies to the fireworks issue.

I admit I didnt think that it could make the page load slow, and annoy people. I just thought he was being a smug prick, so that point is noted. But people dont have a right to not be annoyed. Everyone would be locked up if they did. You obviously have no idea what freedom entails, if you think fire works should be illegal because some ass burns his fingers off a couple times a year. One could outlaw ANYTHING using that kind of logic, including not letting anyone leave the house. You have no right to protect me from myself.

I agree that the reason you've given is not a good reason to ban fireworks. I tend to think people should be able to do what they want, as long as it doesn't interfere with others. That includes using fireworks, taking drugs, or not wearing a seatbelt in a car.

Anyway, as far as fireworks go, there are other issues that have meant more legislation has been passed to restrict their use. I'm talking in a UK context here, but I'm sure the same can be applied to other countries to varying degrees. This prevents them being used to the detriment of others — a big problem here in early November. Why is it a problem, you may ask? Well, there are a number of factors that are relevant. Firstly, the larger ones that go off like a bloody mortar round are fairly easy to get hold of these days. Have you tried sleeping when those things are going off? Do you know what effect it has on livestock? Their use directly impacts on others, as I was getting at in the above post. This is even more apparent, here, as we are becoming increasingly densely populated as our government endeavours to turn our country into some third world slum through mass immigration, but I digress. Another important point, that I alluded to in my first post, is that most people are all very well aware of their "rights", but a disappointingly large number have little concept of responsibility — this state of affairs is actually perpetuated by the nanny state arrangement practised by the left. Unfortunately, as you may have deduced, this all produces a self-perpetuating vicious circle.

Connected to this, is the inability of the government to provide adequate proportionate policing. In the UK, that means feral brats get carte blanche to go lobbing fireworks through old peoples' front doors, because the liberal fascists who run the joint won't allow the system to prosecute kids due to liberal dogma decreeing that children are to be placed on a pedestal of worship and can do no wrong (unless they commit the cardinal sin — a race hate crime — then they'll be banged up for life). Adults can't take matters into their own hands because even raising your voice to a child is "abuse" and will see you serving a long sentence at H.M's pleasure.

Jeeezus, what a bloody mess. Anyway, you see it's quite complicated. A load of other stuff has to be factored in, too; it's not only about saving someone from blowing their fingers off.

"Safety" is the new "opium for the people" instead of religion. It's like a blanket of lead, protecting you, but making it almost impossible to breathe at the same time...Things are banned to such a degree that life becomes unbearable...We are all going to die one day. By overprotecting us, the government kills our spirit, so that we are biologically alive but mentally as good as dead. Physical safety in exchange for mental death. Great!

I think of it as a psychological castration.

If they cut off our spirit, its ok to let us go outside. Otherwise you are "dangerous".

I feel sad the way society has become wimpy.

Australians once were warriors who would fight and kill for what they believed. Now there are no principles in politics and no-one is prepared to stand up for anything. So long as they are allowed to buy a beer at the football, most people are happy.