Quick Takes – Leviathan: Amish Prisoners; Authoritarian Eurocrats; Outlawed Straws

     Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.

     The focus this time: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”

     First, a little bit of mood music:

     Carrying on…

     Pro-tip: If you are selling herbal remedies, NEVER EVER make anything even coming close to a medical claim, or else the FDA will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Even if the folk remedy has been around for centuries…

“Another of Girod’s products, called TO-MOR-GONE, contains bloodroot and was claimed to be “very good at removing tumors.” This old folk remedy has been practiced for centuries, mostly to remove dead skin layers from around skin tumors and wounds. But bloodroot removes this dead skin due to its caustic properties. The FDA decided this was a danger to the public and demanded to inspect his manufacturing process — in other words, his home.

“Girod, stating that his products weren’t subject to FDA oversight because they were herbal remedies, barred their entry. As part of the Old Order Amish community, his religious beliefs mandate that he avoid the modern world as much as possible, including modern pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, the FDA decided that since Girod made vague medical claims, his products were drugs and subject to the full weight of the federal bureaucracy.”

     Such excessive government control has been perfected in the European Union, where rules are multiplied and made so complex that you have no freedom, save for what you are given explicit permission to do… assuming you are elite enough to access any of it.

“The EU has become an authoritarian regime insisting that it is the defender of liberal democracy. There are many ways to strip people and governments of their self-determination. The way the EU has chosen is to create institutions whose mode of operation is opaque and whose authority cannot be easily understood. Under those circumstances, the claim to undefined authority exercised in an opaque manner becomes de facto authoritarianism – an authoritarianism built on complexity.”

     Not to be outdone, California is poised to make offering drinking straws to customers illegal.

“Restaurants in California would be prohibited from automatically handing out straws to customers under a bill introduced Wednesday.

“Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, introduced Assembly Bill 1884, which would require dine-in restaurants to have a straws-upon-request policy. The bill hopes to curb the use of straws and help protect the environment”

     TTFN.

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