Monday Governor Ed Rendell decided to partially shut down the PA state government in response to budget disputes with the legislature. Highway maintenance will be shut down, parks and museums will close, licensing functions will be stopped, the lights of the capitol building will be turned off, and… chaos will ensue?
I woke up Monday morning breathing air like I have every other day in the past. I went through my morning ritual — brushed my teeth, showered, and updated my mp3 player with last nights episode of
free talk live — and went to work. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that elected state bureaucrat Ed Rendell had partially shut down the government! Where were the riots? Where was the chaos? Where was the “
Anarchy”? People seemed to be going on with their lives like any other day. Did they not realize the catastrophe that occurred earlier this morning?
Then, like a spark the ignites a colossal brushfire, a question came to mind: Is it possible for life to continue without the intrusion of the government?
I pondered this for a while and came to a dramatic conclusion: If we can survive without the functions of the government that were abruptly put on pause today, then maybe we don’t need to government for some of its so-called essential functions.
Maybe schools and health care can be provided more effectively in a true, unregulated free market. And maybe, just maybe we don’t need federal bureaucracies like the FCC, FDA, FAA, TSA, NSA, CIA and others intruding in our everyday lives.
It is something to think about. We Pennsylvanians are surviving just fine without the state government. Maybe you can too.