Last week when Simon Black arrived in Bangladesh, the immigration officials there were positively ecstatic to see a foreign tourist entering the country. It’s not quite the same in the Land of the Free. In fact, before they even let people in the country, they program us to be afraid and intimidated. For one thing, all the immigration officers are armed. There’s absolutely no reason for a government agent to carry a loaded pistol when all he does is stamp a passport. This is extremely uncommon in the rest of the world. Only in the Land of the Free. When you step back and look at the whole government apparatus, it’s apparent that this culture of fear and intimidation applies across the entire spectrum. A particularly fitting quote, most frequently credited to Thomas Jefferson–“Where the people fear the government, you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.” It’s absolutely true.
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