The Overbearing, Insufferable and Irritating Nanny State

There is a feeling that many Americans - and many people in all Western countries as well - that government is too big, too intrusive, too interfering, too heavy handed and too expensive. The over-bloated welfare state is part of the problem, but the omnipresent administrative state is also an issue. Does every aspect of our lives need to be regulated, watched, vetted and corrected by Big Brother? Are individuals so infantile that they cannot be left alone as long as they don't break the law? Is the nanny state really necessary? Is it good? Is it tolerable?

Under Barack Obama, the US has reached a tipping point and is now turning its back on the welfare-administrative state. Conservatives are now about 40% of the population, moderates are 35% and only 20% self-identify as liberals. Probably most of those who are liberals are really some sort of socialist with most favoring European-style social democracy. But the majority want smaller, less intrusive government and many are counting on the next Congress to roll back the scope and reach of the bureaucratic, welfare, administrative state and push the pendulum back toward limited government.

This story is a perfect example of what irritates most of us about government. Who gives these bureaucrats the right to tell a woman who she can have and not have as a roommate? What business is it of the state to tell me who I'm allowed to room with? This is just beyond ridiculous and it is time to change some laws, defund some government agencies and send the former employees out into the private sector to do some productive work. Fox News reports on the Nanny State in Michigan:

A civil rights complaint has been filed against a woman in Grand Rapids, Mich., who posted an advertisement at her church last July seeking a Christian roommate.

The ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths,” according to the complaint filed by the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan.

"It's a violation to make, print or publish a discriminatory statement," Executive Director Nancy Haynes told Fox News. "There are no exemptions to that."

Haynes said the unnamed 31-year-old woman’s case was turned over to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. Depending on the outcome of the case, she said, the woman could face several hundreds of dollars in fines and “fair housing training so it doesn’t happen again.”

The people who are charged with enforcing this law are not behaving with common sense and wisdom. If they really are concerned about racism, they are shooting their own cause in the foot because if the average person is asked if there should be this type of law if it is going to be carried out to this ridiculous extreme any sensible person would say no.

I have six words of advice for the next Congress: defund, repeal, fire and close down. And there is a lot more government that all of us would be better off without. If the government cannot stay out of religion, it ought to face the wrath of the voting public.