How much trust do we get?

Something that I've been pondering a few days.

In my recent post about our State of the State address, I concluded with a line about my desire to see the state “stepping back and entrusting you with more of life’s decisions.”

In an average day we make hundreds of decisions, some mundane like deciding which leftover in the fridge is best for take for my lunch and others more long-lasting, such as “is this the right lady for me to go out with?” (In a couple weeks we celebrate 14 years since I had a huge win on that decision.) Yet there are many times in life where our choices are artificially limited or practically non-existent: for example, in a week or so I’ll be getting my W-2 for last year, meaning tax time is right around the corner. In theory I could choose not to file, but I prefer not having one of those new 87,000 IRS agents snatching everything I own in the name of their determination of my “fair share.”

Out of the money I earn (that’s taken away from me because my choice is have a W-2 employer - which also entails backup withholding - rather than be fully self-employed) a portion of that goes to my local school system, along with another portion taken by my state for the school and a further sum voted in by the residents of the local district. They did so before I moved here, but at least I was aware of that because tax rates and local school levies are public information. I don’t derive a direct benefit from the school because I have no kids in the district, but I know others do and paying for the public schools is part of being in the community.

But those who actually send kids to our district don’t always feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. There are at least two private schools in the district that have some number of their kids going to it, and certainly some limited number whose kids are homeschooled, but all that education money comes out of the parents’ pockets in addition to what they anually, directly or indirectly, send the school district. (There’s also a countywide vo-tech school our local taxes pay for, but entry to that is generally via lottery as applicants exceed open slots.)

I’ve long been an advocate of increasing the number of options by allowing state money to follow the child. Proponents of the current system here in Delaware might counter that it does, but that menu is limited to public or charter schools and that’s not really a choice as I see it.

But let’s go further. Thanks to a legislative decision six years ago here in the First State, a pregnant woman has the “choice” to abort her baby, which of course likely wouldn’t be the choice of the unborn person if he or she were given one. This used to be “the law of the land” until a wise Supreme Court placed the law back where it belonged, at the state level. It’s easier to advocate for common-sense abortion law in Dover than it is to thread a case through the needle to get to the Supreme Court.

Now those who partake in sexual activity will have to consider the responsibility with the choice, at least in certain areas of the country where life is still properly valued.

Yet while the government desperately wants to give a woman a “choice” in that department, it’s much less willing to allow them to choose to be armed for self-protection. Every month brings a new limitation proposal since the government believes it knows better than we do what sort of weapons we should have and how much ammunition we can have at any one time. They seem to believe 10 bullets is enough for any task despite the fact there may be more than one assailant and even shooting for center mass is difficult in a stressful situation. I’m not in the market for an F-15, Joe Biden, but then again it’s not your business what sort of weaponry I own.

There are certain elements of culture who are quite willing to help and cajole government into creating and taking away certain choices as well. Some in the realm of public opinion are under the impression that young children are perfectly capable of determining for themselves that they aren’t the gender their physical parts would indicate they were and doctors who have signed on to this ghoulish but lucrative business insist these children should be treated with puberty blockers, invasive surgery, and the like. Moreover, they especially believe their parents shouldn’t be notified of this desire if it’s deemed they may object. On the other hand, those who wish to call their so-called trans child by his or her given name are castigated for “deadnaming” their child, but a special place on their enemies list is reserved for a parent who believed Christian-based counseling would be best for that child, as they had that option rescinded when it was dubbed “conversion therapy.”

It seems to me like, in an era where we can pick from a billion internet sites to visit or find one of thousands of apps to spend several mindless hours on, that the choices on things that matter are becoming more limited. Obviously there are some out there who don’t like the selections we make, so they strive to take them away through whatever means are necessary.

Remember: the more control others have over you, the fewer choices you have. That seems to be the way some of our peers in this nation like it, and they’re working hard to make that the new normal.