Follower blog post of the day

"I would be a loser because I know myself and I know that as a teenager, I would have done anything to get out of work, to take extra money, to get on the government dole".

That pretty much describes the typical teenager, now doesn't it? - but Shane of Shane Atwell's blog takes on a thorny issue with respect to the Americans with Disabilities Act here.


We swiped the Penn and Teller video from his post and embedded it below.






Highlights:

Government claims there are 50 million people in the U.S. with a disability (1 in 6.5?) which is "disingenuous to people with real disabilities".

Coersion: "There is no room for (true) compassion - it's all mandated."

Private property/property rights: making voluntary concessions for the handicapped such as handicap parking spots is just good for business. Why does it need to be accomplished via private concerns staring down the barrel of a regulatory gun?

Got crazy?: How about drive-up ATM instructions in braille?

The ADA is an actual impediment to hiring those with disabilities. After all, who wants to hire a "rolling lawsuit"?

"Coersion never produces compassion"

That last point is fascinating as we have always been intrigued by the disincentivizing effects on personal desire and motivation that government action(s) have whether via the welfare state, social services or, in the case of the ADA, the regulatory regime.

It just seems to us completely natural and in keeping with human nature that any tendency towards sacrifice, compassion and civic good works is blunted by government intervention into areas of society that had been the previous domain of the individual, the family and a voluntary social safety net of churches and charitable organizations.




How bass-ackwards is it these days? High schools are now making community work a condition for graduation. That's right: Mandatory volunteerism.

Over the past 2 or 3 years, we've gladly penned letters to high schools on behalf of soon-to-be graduating seniors who had actual after-school jobs, stating they had performed work for our community council that they had never done thus giving them cover and relieving them of this completely ridiculous requirement. We felt that this very act of community service was the least we could do.