Hack Back Against the State

The past 100 years of mostly free markets have witnessed unprecedented advances that allow millions to enjoy life in ways our ancestors could not fathom. From communications to transportation, we live in a world with much greater potential than ever before.

Take our smart phones, for example. My wife and I listen to any lecture, talk show, audiobook, or genre of music we can think of, anywhere and anytime. We video chat with friends in Japan. We capture video of our children playing in the snow and immediately display the video on our TV before they’ve taken off their snow clothes. My wife virtually runs her business from her iPhone!

We learned to lay and grout tile, install and trim doorways, caulk stairs, and properly paint our basement.  All for free.

Even things like microwaves, lawnmowers, refrigerators, automobiles, or anything digital are plentiful for even the poorest in many countries. Take anything that is electric, powered, or even plastic, and it was not even invented when the Declaration of Independence was signed. Welcome to the Jetsons World.

Most of us delight in the benefits of technology. Yet for all the luxury around us, there is often a lack of excellence in goods that have been around for much longer. We can video chat with somebody around the world, but bandages won’t stick to our skin. We have constant weather information at our fingertips, but our washed clothes are still dirty. Fuel containers spill everywhere despite newfangled engineering “improvements.” Wiper fluid is hardly better than water. Mowers and trimmers take forever to start. And most importantly, our showers are no longer satisfying!

Until I started reading Jeffrey Tucker, these mildly annoying features of my day were, as they say, “the way things are.” But Tucker has a knack for recognizing and writing about the little evils spawned from the government that makes our lives a little (sometimes a lot) less pleasurable. I call them “little evils” because few people care enough to notice. There are no activists lobbying the government to reverse the cause.

When ignorance is bliss, knowledge like this can feel like hell.

I first learned about my shower head. Then I learned my “hot” water isn’t above a temperature suitable for killing bacteria! Next I discovered that my clothes and dishes aren’t really clean because the active ingredient in detergents has been removed! My kids learned that their bandages won’t stay on for longer than a few hours because the government regulated away effective adhesive glue. Most recently I learned how windshield wiper fluid is diluted.

For me, the worst are those new gas cans that have only one opening, for both ventilation and pouring. Why only one? As expected, it’s all in the name of safety and environmental concerns. Trouble is, I’ve spilled more gasoline in the short span of time I’ve owned the new can than with all of my other containers combined! To top it off, nobody I know has said anything good about these gas cans! Wait, no, there is one. A pilot I know who relishes that he can completely turn his can upside down without holding it while he fills his Piper Cub. Well, at least we can thank the government for fixing that problem!

Egregious or not, this occurs because government bureaucrats want to regulate our lives into despair. It’s why the cliché, “They don’t make ’em like they used to” rings true. What is most troubling is that the source to these problems is so opaque. Most people just shrug and move on.

What are we to do? Thankfully, Jeffrey Tucker has, of course, given us the necessary ammunition to fight back against the state’s insistence on making my life a little worse off every day: hack your shower head, tweak your hot water heater, and stock up on soon-to-be-banned items.

If you are unconvinced by how important this is, ask yourself, “When was the last time I enjoyed a really good, hot shower?”