On Election Day I spent my time on WAYY talking not about what may or may not happen with the election.  Instead I brought up some examples locally of suffering in people’s lives being caused by government.  Here were some of the examples.

• An Amish couple is forced out of an Amish-built home by the Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office  because of completely safe but unapproved rafters.
• A young single mother’s children were taken by the county health and human services department  because she uses corporal punishment even though such activity is completely allowed under state law and she faces no criminal charges at this time.
• A Cumberland couple had to demolish their house by order of a local judge.
• A local dairy was fined $5,000 and forced to dump their milk by a state agency.
• A local grocery store is forced to delay the building of its parking lot  by the DNR because of some swallows that built nests in a mound of sand they were about to move.
• Eau Claire County orders a couple to tear down their garage.

    I can give many more examples throughout the State of Wisconsin just like these.  

    These are actual people that have had their lives disrupted in a very real way.  Not because they were doing wrong, not a single person was harmed or going to be harmed by their activities.   They were merely going about their business until the government told them to cease and desist.  Each of these incidents cost the victims thousands of dollars.

    These are not merely examples of bad laws or policies where we and our callers can banter about arguing whether they are good or bad.  But these are the results of these policies.  When I bring up my disagreements over zoning laws, city planning, building codes, or laws concerning children and family, it is not merely because the government should not be involved in those areas.  It is also because the inevitable result of such laws is the examples given above.

    This is the result of a government that has intruded way too far into our lives – by our consent; perhaps even by our demand.  This is the result of “big government”.  Big government is more than how many people are employed by the government or how many bureaucracies there are.  Big government is also the power they have over our lives.  And our Federal, State, and Local governments have a lot of power over our lives.

    If you would like these incidents to stop, here are some things you can do.  Contact your local sheriff and district attorney and tell them to stop arresting and prosecuting those who are doing no harm to others.  Call your legislators, supervisors, and councilmen and tell them the results of these oppressive laws.

    Most of all, mind your own business.  There are many things our neighbors do that we disagree with or that annoy us.  But unless it is in a real way harming us or our property, we have no right to interfere.  If it is wrong for us to gather armed men and force them to stop, then it is wrong for us to create a law and have the government force them to stop as well.  But that is exactly what we have done.