Don't take free agency lightly

The world would be a better place if instead of trying to find new ways to place limits on us, we found new ways to remove the limits we have and expand the realm of possibilities.

No one that I know of wants to have limits placed on them, but many are quite willing to have those limits in place not for themselves but for others. You see there used to be a comic strip that wasn’t all that funny called “There out to be a law”. I think it started out as a way to point out stupid behaviors that could be observed occasionally by the common man. As it continued though you could notice that it grew into something much more.

Driven by a desire to eliminate these poor behaviors in others, legislation was created to outlaw its existence by mandate. Unfortunately that desire has gotten out of hand. Now every little thing that bothers someone else is potential fodder for legal action. More and more actions are now controlled by the mandate of government at the behest of some group that has decided that they know better than you what is best for you. By process of elimination through a little nibble here and a little nibble there, we have lost much of our ability to function as rational mature human beings capable of reasonable thought and self determination.

Case in point, I don’t need a law to tell me to wear a seat belt. I shouldn’t have to be forced through penalties and threats to have to wear a seat belt. It shouldn’t have to be enforced by someone that carries a gun and has been given the authority to do bad things to me and create oversized consequences for not following their rules.

I should be allowed to wear a seat belt because I choose to. I should be allowed to wear a seat belt because I have been educated in its use and understand the statistical evidence that reason the benefits of its use. I should be allowed to wear a seat belt because I have made a conscious decision to do so for my own benefit.

This is what free agency is all about. The freedom to choose. The freedom to make our own choices and to be responsible for those choices. To make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes. To excel through making correct choices that benefits us and those around us. That gives us the ability to learn and grow and define who we are. We become capable as we move from childhood and become adults in charge of our own destinies.

This is a basic principle for which we should fight to maintain. This is a battle that started long before the world was formed. The freedom to choose for ourselves in order to prove ourselves is at our core foundations. We chose on the side of free agency once and that is why we are here today. Be wary that it not be taken away easily.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.