Quality of Life and Freedom, Unilateral Discussion

City Governments is their quest for; "quality of life" often lose sight of the revenue stream which derives the money to run their city. Of course this trend has been going on a very long time. People should remember that government exists because the people allow it to exist and it should also remember that you can always start throwing tea in the water when your government fails you.

Let us look now in this discussion at local municipal governments and an issue that I am very familiar with. In our travels we have noticed cities being hostile towards tourists. Making all kinds of unnecessary rules against the natural tendencies of quest visitors. We witnessed in Florida, Daytona Beach Race Area the hostile running of traffic, events, parking and camping. Yet during these events, which are, suppose to be a economic bonanza for the town and its merchants, they inadvertently turn away those dollars and are simply left with the headaches of clean up and traffic.

Cities build stadiums, theatres, convention centers, rodeo fair grounds, museums, racetracks to attract tourists and money to be spent in their towns. And if successful and the masses emerge onto the town with their dollars, the city treats them like crap and makes their stay unbearable. The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics went over board with security and made it tough to go to town to shop or get food. Then the citizens who floated a bond to build the facilities vote for laws to restrict the use of the city during the events hurting the revenues of local businesses. This is terrible. Then the tourists do not spend all they might and the sales tax revenue generated from those events never come in and therefore it is nothing more than an incredible burden and cost to the municipalities for hosting the event(s). Why? This is dumb.

Why have an event and invite the world if you are only going to tell them we do not want your money, go home? I saw a really bad bumper sticker once in Las Vegas that said; "Okay now you've seen Vegas, now go home!!!" I bet this person has a job that is directly benefiting from the money derived from the tourists. To top off matters, we are seeing now with terrorist scares that local police are harassing the crap out of the tourists. I wonder why anyone would ever come back? Why not watch it on TV, it is cheaper and you always get a good view. With today's surround a sound you could even hear the racecars and the clashed of high tech plastic being worn by athletes in Hockey, football and other sports. You sure can hear the sounds on TV in wrestling, baseball, and boxing. One city we were recently at in NC, we were told we could not stay in our motor home, because it was against the city ordinance and even in the entire county to camp in a vehicle. Great of course when 45,000 people show up in town there are no extra rooms, KOA spaces or other places to stay. So in other words we have an event and we want everyone to come to, we advertise it all over the country. But we will make it impossible for you to enjoy yourself while you are here. Hmm? Then why go? Precisely? And if no one enjoys him or herself or spends money then the event will surely be a drag on the locals and therefore you have a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Cities are so stupid to build a big facility and make the public pay and then allow the public to make laws, which make it impossible for it to turn a profit. Why? Bad business management decision-making; It shows how a small few can ruin everything. But in the case of Orlando, Vegas or Nashville TN which are all national and international tourist destinations, you are cutting off the hand that is feeding you. People blame 9-11 for this latest down turn in the tourism business; I blame stupid short sided people who have no clue as to where the money comes from. A city that prevents overnight parking of high-end motor homes during large events is self destructive; they should therefore not be bailed out by government or tax dollars. Putting good money on top of bad management is as bad as Enron.

Cities who make laws against these tourist yet have their economies run partly from tourist money, are short sided. Think of a city like Henderson NV, Nashville TN, Kissimee FL, Daytona FL with such laws, how can these cities afford the police forces if there are no sales revenues. City government and city services run to a large part off the sales tax revenue usually 1-2% which pay for police departments and city services whether they are run in house or contracted out. The funniest thing is that cities like this with high qualities of life have people in them that are of the same income level that affords them to travel too. Touche when they travel and are treated like shit after they voted for similar laws in their own cities. HA HA HA. Dumb people, who do not see the whole picture; what is the problem with this picture? I am laughing because it will be really fun to watch this unfold as our freedoms are stripped by over zealous police departments, $5.00 per hour security guards and governments at all levels who claim they are protecting us and restricting our freedom for our own safety and freedom. Bull. You cannot have freedom by giving up freedom.

We have allowed the law enforcement agencies, law making scoundrels called politicians to run a muck once more. Are you sure it is the terrorists who are taking away our freedom or are we just rolling over and letting it happen? Is just an excuse to back track over 200 plus years of hard fought and hardship one sacrifices to get here. Are we to give it all back that quickly? Did we forget from hence we came? Are we forgetting the words of Sacristies, Plato, Jesus, Moses, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Gandhi and thousands of others? Did your ancestors die in vein to protect our freedoms? Was that little stunt of throwing tea in the water without meaning? Give me liberty or give me death, do those words mean nothing? Are we so stupid as a society that we cannot see what we've done to ourselves, that we let the media get the best of us. That we have given up free will and free thought to the TV, to the politicians, to the garbage of photo-op video journalism?

Why are we allowing ourselves to be broken from within? The enemy; they are the terrorists, nuke them. Do not wait for them to come here. We should be offensively merciless in our attack. Not attacking our own people with rhetoric and more laws. There ought to be only one law about making laws. You have to get rid of ten laws if you are going to make one new one. That will change the tables. Every time there is an event the politicians stand up and say, "I propose we make a law to prevent that from ever happening again" oh really? Dumb fools. Ignorant idiots. Laws, which go against human innate characteristics do not prevent people from doing bad things. They make people adapt and go a different direction. Trying to circumvent the letter of the law or its intention. Then to shore up that law you make another one. But that does not work so you make another one and another one for all the loop holes except the ones you can selectively enforce on people who do not fund your campaigns, for them oh no.

You will make yet another exception to the rule, law, ordinance, tax code, resolution, decisions, fee schedule, permit or a hundred other things we hide with different names, but they are still rules and laws. This is the problem. Too many politicians (lawyers) making laws for no reason; forcing people to act in a way or a business to do something that goes against inherent laws of free enterprise, natural laws of nature or innate tendencies of mankind whether through nurture or nature. Bunch of dummies I tell ya.

Did you know that the OSHA Standards are 56 stories high if you take all the pages and stack them one by one on top of each other? Ought to throw the next bastard that makes another page, without eliminating ten off the top of the pile jump from the top with out an executive high rise parachute. Freedom or Free Enterprise need not be a pipe dream. With this new created reality we now face after 9-11, we must pay attention to what is real. We must take back our freedom, fight for our rights. The terrorists are the enemy not our people. We have sacrificed enough. You wonder why the boomers (77 million of them) do not trust government, yes they accept it, but they sure as hell know better than to trust it. And the Xers (80 million), they do not trust anyone anymore. With increased communication it is time to make all levels of our government respect, protect and deliver as best they can all the freedoms and stipulations in our Constitution. Our rights are being violated, look out your window. Vote for what is right and study the history and never forget all those who died to make this a great place.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs