A BRAVE NEW POST-MODERN WORLD

The accompanying excerpt from an article by Mark Steyn illustrates the problems arising when we complacently allow a malignantly totalitarian, socialistic bureaucracy to emerge under 'progressive' notions of 'human rights' and whose ruling minions actually believe that they know better than the country's citizens how to behave, think and comport daily life. The rise of a ruling class; the 'educated(legal, humanities)/sophisticated(?) elite'.

We face a scenario in the West where some of these so-called 'elites' encourage the immigration (legal and otherwise) of parasitical foreigners whose behaviours and intentions appear not to desire integration but rather domination. The reasons for such self-defeating actions by these elites are not always transparent and often appear suicidal yet the trend continues. Unfortunately such behaviour indubitably encourages an opposing 'conservative' reaction wherein some contemplate the use of force and/or legal means to protect themselves and their families from harm, thus potentially justifying a crackdown on existing freedoms.

Marry these imperatives and we face a spiralling philosophical conundrum of brobdinagian proportions. It is a tightrope act of  profound political intricacy to maintain civic freedoms whilst facing totalitarian inclinations from both within and without.

Right now I thank God that the man at the helm in Australia is trying to do just that. I fear however that some of his fellow travellers lack either the heart or the nous to support him for very much longer, and he is under fire from others in the community whose behaviour and philosophy's border on the outrageously treasonous. Much prayer and support is needed to maintain even a few of the community values we take for granted. A very cursory glance at history indicates that great civilisations die from the inside and usually the final collapse happens swiftly, in a figurative 'blink of an eye'.

I know, because the collapse of apartheid in South Africa happened so fast it surprised even the most optimistic and active amongst us. How much more therefore in a culture where everybody is hedonistically carrying on as if there is were no tomorrow...eating and drinking, buying and selling with little thought to what is happening under their very noses.
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"In the Fifties, one in twenty members of the workforce needed government permission in order to do his job. Today, it's one in three.
That's tyrannous - which is bad enough, albeit not unique to America: The entire developed world has massively expanded the hyper-regulatory state. But only in America does the Department of Paperwork command lethal force:

On August 19, 2010, two inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) visited the Strictly Skillz Barbershop in Orlando and found everything in order: All of the barbers working there were properly licensed, and all of the work stations complied with state regulations. Two days later, even though no violations had been discovered and even though the DBPR is authorized to conduct such inspections only once every two years, the inspectors called again, this time accompanied by "between eight and ten officers, including narcotics agents," who "rushed into" the barbershop "like [a] SWAT team." Some of them wore masks and bulletproof vests and had their guns drawn. Meanwhile, police cars blocked off the parking lot.
The officers ordered all the customers to leave, announcing that the shop was "closed down indefinitely." They handcuffed the owner, Brian Berry, and two barbers who rented chairs from him, then proceeded to search the work stations and a storage room. They demanded the barbers' driver's licenses and checked for outstanding warrants. One of the inspectors, Amanda Fields, asked for the same paperwork she had seen two days earlier, going through the motions of verifying (again) that the barbers were not cutting hair without a license (a second-degree misdemeanor). Finding no regulatory violations or contraband, the officers released Berry and the others after about an hour.

What sort of lunatic handcuffs a barber in order to check his license is valid? The gauleiter in question is Inspector Amanda Fields of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation - and, in a sane world, she'd be the one in handcuffs. But, as far as I can tell, she still has her job. Judge Rosenbaum's opinion for the US 11th Circuit is unusually vivid:

It was a scene right out of a Hollywood movie. On August 21, 2010, after more than a month of planning, teams from the Orange County Sheriff's Office descended on multiple target locations. They blocked the entrances and exits to the parking lots so no one could leave and no one could enter. With some team members dressed in ballistic vests and masks, and with guns drawn, the deputies rushed into their target destinations, handcuffed the stunned occupants — and demanded to see their barbers' licenses. The Orange County Sheriff's Office was providing muscle for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's administrative inspection of barbershops to discover licensing violations.
We first held nineteen years ago that conducting a run-of-the-mill administrative inspection as though it is a criminal raid, when no indication exists that safety will be threatened by the inspection, violates clearly established Fourth Amendment rights. See Swint v. City of Wadley , 51 F.3d 988 (11th Cir. 1995). We reaffirmed that principle in 2007 when we held that other deputies of the very same Orange County Sheriff's Office who participated in a similar warrantless criminal raid under the guise of executing an administrative inspection were not entitled to qualified immunity. See Bruce v. Beary , 498 F.3d 1232 (11th Cir. 2007). Today,we repeat that same message once again. We hope that the third time will be the charm.

I would doubt it. Amanda Fields and her chums feel no shame about what they did - which is the real problem. If a constable does not instinctively understand that there is something wrong - and, indeed, profoundly wicked - about a "license inspection" that involves handcuffing the barber, he's unlikely to be unduly disturbed by the possibility of a judicial slapdown four years hence, assuming that the rubes he's cuffing are savvy enough to take it that far. For a sense of the esprit of the Florida regulatory environment, consider the words of one officer to barber Reginald Trammon:

When Trammon argued to one of the officers that he had done nothing wrong, the officer responded, " It's a pretty big book, I'm pretty sure I can find something in here to take you to jail for."

Scary and increasingly familiar.