The Omni Government - Legislating Home and Family
California State Senator Jackie Speier (D), introduced a bill in 2005 to allow counties to restrict certain breeds of dogs. In many places, a county or state can tell you exactly what dogs you can and cannot own based solely on a dog's looks. Some counties restrict all dogs over 40 pounds, some have drafted legislation targeting all dogs over 20 pounds.
The State doesn't just stop at regulating Rover. Another California State legislator, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, wants to make it a crime for any person to spank a child under three years old. Lieber also supported Speier's anti-pet bill, but she's taking government intrusion into private life to new levels. Liebers proposed bill will prohibit ``any striking of a child, any corporal punishment, smacking, hitting, punching, any of that.'' Lieber said any smacking of a child under three years old would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail or a fine up to $1,000.
That's right, smacking your child's hand, even if that hand is about to touch a hot stove, can land you in jail for a year. Any parent that smacks his or her child lightly on the bottom, even if that child is throwing a temper tantrum in a supermarket, can find him or herself behind bars. Apparently, Lieber believes it's better for a young child to be deprived of its mother or father for a year rather than get a light smack on the bottom.
I wonder what world I'll live in when I'm 80 years old. Will I only be able to own one pet, as long as it's under 20 lbs, sterilized, microchipped, never tethered or kenneled for more than three hours, is licensed, vaccinated, given obedience lessons every year (with proof furnished to the county), allowed at least 8 hours of sleep a night, drinks only filtered water, and eats at least twice a day? Will parents be serving 10 years for imprisoning their children in rooms (i.e., grounding) or 20 years for spanking? Will children no longer receive discipline and the few remaining state-approved types of pets be given rights equal to human beings? Will slip collars and crates be banned? Will there be a law saying we can't smoke within 25 feet of any child or animal? Will I be subject to criminal prosecution for child abuse if I dare to buy my niece a sugar-loaded candy bar or a hamburger?
I'm scared of the future. I'm not really sure I'll want to live in the world twenty or thirty years from now. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not really sure I want to live in the world the way it is now, but unfortunately, I can't move. Maybe some day, I'll be able to buy my very own terra-transformed planet.
Or maybe I'll just become the crazy hermit lady who lives on a dirt road in a small house with boarded up windows and dozens of NO TRESPASSING signs.