I am on vacation lying at the pool. I usually do not take much “beach” reading with me. This time no Connelly or Coben or Silva. A couple books to review that friends wrote, The Road to Serfdom (yes, I was shocked I had not read it), a Peter Drucker Book and a couple of lengthy biographies. Not your typical pool reading. Likewise included was the latest book by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. I want to share a story in his book Over Ruled.
He tells the story of Marty Hahne who at a young age became addicted to Houdini and decided to become a magician. As is typical with someone who does magic tricks, he had a rabbit; the first being Charlie then Casey. Everything was hopping along until 2005 when a woman with a badge approached Marty after a children’s show at a library in Missouri. She asked to see his license. Stunned, he said what license? “For your rabbit.” Marty stated, “I could understand if I was using a tiger, but I was using a bunny rabbit. A three-pound bunny rabbit.”
The woman worked for the U.S. Dept of Agriculture. Congress had previously passed a law that people using animals for research must have a license. Congress had recently amended the law stating that carnivals, circuses, and zoos must have federal licenses for their animals. You can see the expansion of government here. As they normally do, agency bureaucrats laid out their own set of rules. They expanded the licensing rules to animal acts and educational exhibits.
Marty applied for a license. He received it, but he had to submit to “surprise” inspections of his house. If he took the rabbit on a road trip, he had to submit an itinerary to the Dept. His home visit had some problems. Casey’s travel cage did not have a sticker reading “live animal.” (You cannot make this crap up). The cage needed arrow stickers directing how to carry the cage. Marty told the federal employee he already knew how to carry the cage – by the handle on the top. The agent insisted he needed the stickers, but Marty had no clue where to get them. She said she would send him a few. Sometime later he received a box of two hundred stickers.
He was later told he must have a written disaster plan. Marty stated he had one. He lived in Missouri where they have tornadoes, and he just used common sense. (Sadly, a dying thought). He had a safe room in his basement. That was not good enough. Marty had to hire a disaster management expert. The disaster expert told Marty the 28-page plan they drafted was short even though it covered not only tornadoes but also chemical leaks, floods, and heat waves.
Marty finally resigned himself to everything after a Dept. supervisor objected to Marty putting his 12-year-old dog in the safe room before the rabbit because the rabbit is licensed. Marty told a reporter, “I always thought I had a fun, easy job, and I would never have to worry about the government bothering me. But our government has gotten so intrusive, their tentacles are everywhere.”
One last thing. Marty had a discussion with the supervisor. If he had raised Casey to eat, he would not have needed a license. Marty said to the supervisor, “you’re telling me I can kill the rabbit in front of you, but I can’t take it across the street to a birthday party without a license.”
Many people are questioning why President Trump, and his team are attempting to dismantle a large portion of this invasive government. They are digging into every nook and cranny as I delineated in a prior column to find all the rules and regulations lawlessly made up by government bureaucrats that are not in compliance with Congressional laws.
Since the ridiculously horrible “Chevron” ruling was overruled that allowed court deference to these bureaucrats the new administration is on a seek-and-destroy mission. Under “Loper” — the new ruling that withdraws “Chevron” — the expansion of our government in the hands of these meddling managers is over. Numbered are the days of our citizens being tortured by heartless overseers destroying the lives of normal Americans pursuing a joyful life. There might even be a readoption of the old idea where people simply use “common sense.”
And you wonder why we have all these agencies where we have no idea what they do. That explains why we have $36 trillion in debt.
