THIS Is What Soft Tyranny Looks Like

• You move into a house
• The land nearby is covered with weeds and trash
• You can't even see around the corners when you drive
• Residents waiting at the bus stop are crowded by blackberry bushes
• So you clean it up
• And the local council says you are "Cultivating" and
• orders you to pay $100 for a retroactive license
• or you have to put the car suspension parts back on the land
• and plant weeds again.

In England, where the Nanny State is approaching its zenith, this is The Way Things Are. The slope from "no cell phones in school zones" to "no removing weeds without a license" is very steep and very slippery. Where do you draw the line? After all, all the regulations sound perfectly reeeeeeeasonable, don't they? You are not against people enjoying the land, are you? What kind of a person would object to licenses for cultivating public land?

The Good People did nothing in England and the Evil has prospered.

Don't be too amused - we are hard on their heels down this road. I know an arborist who had to pay $20,000 to have trees planted, after he cleared someone's private property of . . . unwanted trees.

But, surely, someone else will run for office where you live. Not because they want control, do they spend their time getting control. No, surely they are dedicated public seeeeervants writing the rules! Surely! I mean, otherwise you would have to GET OFF YOUR DUFF and look into your local government and maybe even (gasp) give up Friday night happy hour and attend City Council meetings!