There is No Free Stuff,

There should not be Prohibited Stuff

 Both, Free things and Prohibited things are wrong, although the unintended consequences are different, both have them.  I grew up in the fifties.  We knew nothing was free by simple observation, and that someone had to have paid for it or it wouldn’t exist.  The only commonly known prohibitions were driving without a license, buying booze, and gambling for money.  We knew there were other laws that affected adults, but we only cared about those constraining us.

As a child growing up in a small desert railroad town on the way to Las Vegas we knew that gambling was prohibited for those of us under 21 years of age; but in a railroad town train crews laid-over in alternating directions for the next train.  With lots of free time there was always a poker game in room 103 of the Lay-Over Hotel.  I learned to play poker and cheat for money from off duty Rails willing to take a 12 year old kid’s money for amusement. 

As a 14 year old I bought beer, at 15 I bought Gin and malt liquor, at 16 I bought any liquor I wanted with fake Identifications stolen from Marines and modified to past as 21 year olds with out of state drivers licenses.

At 14 I bought a partially disassembled motorcycle from a junk yard and fixed it up, drove it to work with my father’s permission, staying mostly on utility roads, and off-road, avoiding local police and state highway patrol for almost 2 years before I had a learners permit.

Prohibitions create big black market businesses, have for thousands of years, and always will.  If there’s enough demand there will be providers.  If there is strong enough need, there will be many violators.

So much for Prohibitions!

Now, how about Free stuff; as a carefully observant young person, I noticed I never got anything for free.  If it seemed to be free, I knew someone must have paid to create it.  I didn’t work for free.  I didn’t know anyone who made stuff for free.  I never got anything for free that didn’t eventually cost me alot money, or misery or both in some way.  Subsidies are stupid also; just more artificially free stuff.  

How are these two alike?  They are artificial, fake, and phony. 

An attempt to limit dangerous mistakes made by children doesn’t require more ridiculous laws; it requires more effective education and more responsible parenting.

Attempting to limit dangerously ignorant behavior by adults is a foolish and expensive waste of time and money.  STOP IT, and stop deceiving ignorant people by implying that things can be FREE.