Legislate Yourself as you Legislate Others

Cross posted at leftcoastrebel

The golden rule says “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”  This rule works very well in the interpersonal dealings of individuals. In this era of hyper-regulation of everything, I just wish people would legislate themselves like they want everyone else to be legislated.  Progressivism and hypocrisy go hand in hand.  They regulate all these activities because they Care so darn much!  But their caring does not always translate into changing their behavior.  It usually just manifests itself in them wanting to change yours.  It is the same old cliché we always use to illustrate socialism:  Socialism is getting into they guy standing next to you’s pocket to give the beggar some change.
Pamela Anderson uses her popularity to endorse PETA, who would like to wager on whether or not Pam calls Terminex if she sees a bug or a rodent in her house?  Do you think Pam would like to swim in her pool with frogs?  You think if she found a snake in her garage she would just let it live there?
Algore’s activities and hypocrisy are the stuff of viral email legend.  Does he drive a Prius, or better yet take the train, or ride a bike, to his speaking engagements?  Use a chalkboard and old fashioned megaphone to save electricity?  Do you suppose they turn the AC off for his speeches?  If Al truly believed the nonsense he was spreading he would only hold his speeches outdoors in a park during daylight hours and stand on a tree stump and shout his message.  But, sadly, no, he uses all the modern conveniences of life that his Billionaire status affords him.
Take any of the A-List stars in Hollywood who are make such impassioned pleas regarding the poor.  Show me the first one that gives up their limos, yachts, airplanes, and mansions to lift a whole tenement out of poverty; or, point out the one that does not have a good tax lawyer on retainer.
Remember all the tax cheats in the administration?
My Grandmother has always said that those who wish to control others every second of the day are usually those that do not have control over themselves. 
As I have stated before, if you have a pet cause that you want government to get involved in you must also accept all the other pet causes everyone else has.  We all have our interests, and it would be easy for us all to try to legislate our views on even the most mundane things onto others.
For instance, I would outlaw Crocs.  I would outlaw all info-mercials and most ’reality’  TV.   But if I could do all of that, and more, then the person next door would also get to outlaw my 4x4 truck, talk radio, guns, and inefficient antique tractor.  They might decide that fatsos like me should not be allowed to purchase Krispy Kreme donuts.  It would be their right to legislate me just as much as it was mine to legislate them.  Until their activities cause me quantifiable harm, I have no right to do anything about it.
I don’t have to buy ugly foam shoes, I don’t have to watch info-mercials or the Flava of Luv because Free Market Capitalism created DVR.  If you feel strongly about trading automobile safety for the perception and status of being a good person  trade in your limo for a smartcar…fine; I will be driving my truck.
This was the genius of the Founders.  They restrained government and gave it specific, limited powers.  This was to protect your rights and freedoms as much as the next person’s.  When our President laments the fact that government is not restrained, and that the constitution is a list of negative liberties, that it doesn’t say what the government can do.  Half of that statement is true; and by design, and a good idea.  The other half is false.  The Constitution from, the perspective of the Federal Government, is a list of negative liberties.  From a personal standpoint it is a list of positive liberties.  Power is to the people.  This saddens many, if not most, of our governmental types, and that is precisely the reason the Constitution is written that way.  Now as to the statement that the Constitution does not say what the Federal Government can do; yes it does, very plainly,  it is just that it is supposed to be very limited; again, much to the dismay of Congress Critters and big Government types.  When every pet cause is dealt with from a Federal level, and all causes rise to the  level of “crisis” the only people who win are those in power.  We all lose.  Oh sure, the turtles will get their tunnels, but the government giveth and the government taketh something else away. 
-KOOK