Liberty Requires Permission in NJ

Did you know that it is against the law in the town of Bound Brook, New Jersey, United States of America to engage in the time honored business of going door to door to offer your neighbors goods or services in return for cash?

That’s right. Nowadays, where once upon a time liberty prevailed, one is required to get permission from the government to do that sort of thing. You must have a permit. If you do it without a government permit you are guilty of a crime. You’re a criminal; an outlaw; a miscreant. You can be ticketed, arrested, fined, jailed, booked or otherwise mugged by the town statists.

So when a big blizzard buried the town recently, two enterprising teenagers found out the hard way they were criminals – guilty of the the “crime” of going door to door offering to shovel the snow off their neighbors’ driveways for a small fee.

I used to do that with my friends when I was a kid. I shoveled snow, mowed lawns, and helped little old ladies with chores and such like in return for small sums of cash. Little did we know back then that our innocent adolescent activity might someday be considered a “crime.”

“We weren’t looking to break the law,” explained the two 18-year-old criminal high schoolers. “We just didn’t know the law.” The cops had to tell them they weren’t allowed to solicit business door to door without a permit from the local government mafia.

They might have been arrested as well said the Police Chief, but for the fact that the town was in a state of emergency in advance of the coming winter storm. So the boys got off with a warning  this time and the neighbors had to shovel their own driveways. 

The town’s little 4^th grade girls might not be so lucky this summer when they get busted for going door to door selling Girl Scout cookies without a permit.

How many more examples like this do we need to prove that America has slowly evolved from the land of the free into a statist nightmare nation?

Where once we enjoyed liberty; now liberty requires permission.