The Loss of Liberties and Resources

I've been pondering lately the loss of our Liberties around the country. Have you noticed it too?

By small and seemingly inconsequential methods, the government is encroaching further and further into our lives; taking more and more of our liberties and our resources, without our consent, "for the greater good".

Take today for example. I went to the local hardware big box store--it's called Jerry's; if you get over my way, check out Jerry's, they are fabulous!

Anyway, we bought a gallon of paint for a project we're engaged in. As of July 1, 2010 a seventy-five cent charge has been added to the purchase of a gallon of paint. The fees will be collected at the time of purchase by all companies who sell paint in the State of Oregon. These fees will be used by PaintCare.org to fund the recycling & disposal of architectural paint. There are various fees, for various amounts of paint.

I don't WANT to pay SEVENTY-FIVE cents a GALLON to fund this non-profit company; I don't want to pay for a program I will NOT BE USING! I don't recycle paint. I SAVE paint. I USE my paint. I won't BE PARTICIPATING, so why should I have to pay a SEVENTY-FIVE cents PER GALLON OF PAINT????

Because I live in Leftistville, I am FORCED to participate in a program that I'm not interested in using. This has taken away my liberties and my resources.

Let's say I plan to use 10 gallons of paint. The 1-5 gal fee is $1.60; I certainly HOPE that means $1.60 for the ENTIRE 5 gallons, but this is Leftistville in which I live, so there is really no telling from the way it's worded. So, I use 10 gallons and am forced to pay $3.20 ON TOP OF THE COST OF MY PAINT for some government worker to do WHAT with it? Hand it out??? Sell it??? It's MY MONEY!

This is what Frederic Bastiat called "Legalized Plunder" my friends. It's MY THREE DOLLARS AND TWENTY CENTS! I no longer have the FREEDOM to use that money in the marketplace for my own pursuit of happiness. My resources have been stolen from me against my will to go to a program that I WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM.

Our Founders recognized one of our basic rights was the pursuit of happiness; with additional readings from Leonard E. Read founder of The Foundation for Economic Education, I have come to understand that the pursuit of happiness means essentially, the right to the use of the fruits of my labor. Some legislator, some bureaucrat somewhere, pushed by the enviro-wacko lobbyists has stolen the fruits of my labors to the tune of SEVENTY-FIVE cents a gallon.

Even at the rate of $1.60 for five gallons, if I use two of those for a total of $3.20, that's at least a gallon of milk that my family would not be able to purchase.

This is how they get us folks. Make things so difficult, so cumbersome and expensive that eventually, the population will turn to the government to live. That's what they want.

Think of all the "fees" and "taxes" that seem small, but add up to a whopping number individually and as a family. They are slowly but surely squeezing the middle class.

Watch for other encroachments; watch carefully, you’ll be amazed at how much we’ve given up by those flaxen cords.

I urge you to contact this paint recovery program and complain. I wrote a letter asking how I could opt out and I hope you do too.

Contact Paintcare:

Alison Keane, Executive Director
1500 Rhode Island Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20005
202-719-3703

akeane@paint.org