CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

 

Congressional Issues 2006
ENVIRONMENT
Technophobia



The 110th Congress should
  • not allow Hollywood celebrities to testify on scientific issues for which they are unqualified;
  • recognize the long-term benefits of technology to the human race
  • allow consumers to choose their own level of technology

Technology has made possible the following:

  • harvesting more food in a day than 100 slaves could produce all season long.
  • keeping my family comfortable by warming up the house -- without having to chop wood and breathe ashes.
  • cooling off the house with the push of a button
  • having healthy teeth
  • traveling on a 4-lane highway, arriving at my destination hours, maybe days, before I would have in 1804
  • flying in a Boeing 757
  • driving safely in a car made of steel
  • living safely in a home that can withstand a moderate earthquake or severe storm
  • having pure drinking water available with the twist of a wrist
  • keeping food fresh with refrigeration
  • having hot water available at all times, for only pennies
  • enjoying good health with the help of antibiotics
  • enjoying the benefits of instant electricity
  • doing more and producing more with gasoline engines
  • completing assignments, making calculations, designing buildings, learning about the world around me, aided by computers
  • watching a NASCAR race
  • learning and being entertained by television; seeing important events around the world as they happen
  • The Division of Labor: Producing one item and being able to chose from 50,000 items made by others and sold at Wal-Mart.
  • eradicating diseases like smallpox, polio, with vaccines
  • preparing food quickly with microwave ovens
  • watching the Lord of Rings (the movie) in Dolby® stereo
  • watching Alabama (the band) in the front row of an arena with 10,000 other fans
  • eradicating pests and disease with DDT
  • bringing a symphony orchestra into my living room with a stereo CD.

Our standard of living has been immeasurably improved by Liberty Under God, or laissez-faire capitalism.

Before these inventions were imagined, manufactured, and distributed to markets near your home, Congress did not pass a law ordering the improvement of your life by the creation of any technology. Politicians were clueless. The government does not improve your life; inventors, capitalists, businessmen and middlemen improve your life.

Consumers like you have the power to make them wealthy or put them out of business, depending on what you choose to purchase. The power of consumers to organize a boycott on the internet is far more rapid and effective than trying to get a government law passed -- and a boycott is more moral than a government law. I have the right to refuse to buy a technology I don't approve of, but I have no right to threaten you with violence if you don't agree with me and choose to use that technology anyway. Maybe I like mega-doses of Vitamin C, but I can't initiate force against you to compel you to take Vitamin C. I may not like the fact that you use Tetrahydrocannabinol to reduce nausea caused by your anti-cancer drugs, but if I can't persuade you to stop using it, I have no right to initiate force against you to compel you not to use it. Same for genetic foods, pesticides, flouride, vaccinations, or any other technology.

You have the right to live a life of simplicity, close to nature, without human technology. Others have the right to anesthesia, electronics, computers, and the infrastructure which develops voluntarily on private property. Government is an obstacle to a constantly rising standard of living produced by technology.

If I am an inventor, manufacturer, or distributor of any technology, I have no right to use force against my competitor, nor do I have the right to ask the government to force you to use my technology. If someone invents a better technology than mine, I have no right to ask the government to ban this competitive technology on some flimsy evidence or allegation, stick a tariff on it, or initiate force against the manufacturers or consumers of this technology simply to benefit my business. If consumers want to use my competitor's product, they have every right to do so. And I have every right to try to invent an even better technology. And everyone benefits by the creativity, competition, and progress of capitalism.

Most of government today represents the violation of the rights of consumers and businesses, and this impedes progress and lowers our standard of living.

The Good Old Days by Gary North


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