We are all criminals; we are all anti-government dissidents.

And you have to wonder whether that isn't the point of petty regulations - by making us all criminals because of our violation of some petty law - such as not separating the recyclables from the non-recyclables - we declare ourselves as "outlaws" and make us susceptible to governmental punishment, which makes us a more docile population.

Timothy Carney in the Washington Examiner has a column on "petty tyranny."

But petty tyranny matters. It matters on a moral level, because it's simply wrong to take away people's freedom for no good reason -- whether you're acting through government or not. Petty tyranny has mattered in the past because our world's worst tyrants used incrementalism as a way of eroding the will and smoothing the road toward totalitarianism. I don't think the light bulb law is a lurch towards Stalinism here, but all these petty tyrannies wear away our individualism, and make us more servile souls.


So here are some petty tyrannies today:

Our Freeman Klopott reports on D.C.'s crackdown on people putting recyclables in their trash. One storeowner got a $200 fine because some government official found one can in their trash. Recall that D.C. has more than twice as much violent crime per capita as New York City.

Then we get cops going after little girls for offenses like caring for a bird and operating a lemonade stand.

From Coralville, Iowa, the AP reports:

Police closed down a lemonade stand in Coralville last week, telling its 4-year-old operator and her dad that she didn't have a permit.

An officer told Abigail Krutsinger's father Friday that she couldn't run the stand as RAGBRAI bicyclers poured into Coralville.

A city ordinance says food vendors must apply for a permit and get a health inspection.

And in Fredericksburg, Virginia, a girl saved an endangered woodpecker from the family cat, was spotted by a federal bureaucrat, told to set the bird free. She did, but then was slapped with $535 fine.

And some recent greatest hits:

The guy who helped trim trees of tornado victims -- for free -- getting busted for operation without a permit.

And, of course, Delaware government officials lie and steal a basketball hoop:

Concerning that last, watch this video which demonstrates that the Delaware DOT lied to the homeowner about keeping his basketball hoop. 



Of course, without the video, we would all just assume that he was a crazy, disgruntled law-breaker.