I’ve been reading propaganda from presidential candidates who say America is better than ever. In Watauga County, they have “neighborhoods heavily trafficked by panhandlers.”
The coverage in the Watauga Democrat says nothing about people being shamed into feeling greedy when they don’t cancel their family vacations, postpone car repairs, forego their own meals, or whatever to help out. The problem was safety, as in thieves could masquerade as panhandlers.
Now, as every student of government knows, you create safety by making people register. Law-abiding citizens register their guns, thugs steal them to perpetrate evils, and voila! Hair braiders become certified and thus have less money to buy hair products. Voila.
But certification, licensing, and registration are getting a bad rap. They’re viewed as paying government for a piece of paper that lets you do what you were already doing. Watauga wouldn’t be so cruel. They would let panhandlers register for free.
