This weekend we learned which 4 teams will meet in the finals of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament. For many players, coaches and fans, this weekend was the culmination of life-long dreams. This weekend, however, we also learned that Delaware state officials thought it was prudent to dispatch resources and manpower to remove a number of curbside basketball hops from a local cul de sac.
So much for their dreams.
The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) deployed heavy equipment and over a dozen staff to tackle the scourge of curbside basketball. When a local resident complained about the heavy-handedness of the state’s response, they even brought in law enforcement.
Behold, your Republic, 2011 Edition:
Well.
Look…I admit, I don’t know the particulars of this situation. Perhaps these basketball hoops were “illegal.” Perhaps, as one government official states, DelDOT does own the “rights of way” in this cul de sac (let’s set aside that weirdness for a moment) and somehow it really felt the need to flex its sovereign muscle and better police its curbs.
But, is this really the best use of government resources? Delaware faces a budget shortfall equal to over 6% of its budget. The tiny state is #12 in the NATION in its level of debt. And yet, it feels it is vital to dispatch a bunch of fully-pensioned and health benefited state employees to remove basketball hoops. Really? When we hear from state employees that they can’t possibly accept any more cuts in funding, is it because we’ll lose the basketball-hoop-removal-sqauds. Cause, I might be willing to stomach that cut.
And yes, I really think this is a big deal.
First, it appears the state marshalled its resources to remove the hoops based on a complaint from one resident. It doesn’t appear that there were any hearings or reviews. A lone crank–and who hasn’t lived down the street from that person–made some kind of complaint and the full wheels of the state enforcement mechanisms were set in motion.
Second, the female state official clearly lies to the resident in the video. She says he can keep his basketball hoop and they will place it in his driveway. And, then, of course, they don’t. (And, did I mention they actually brought in state troopers?)
But, those observations aren’t why this is a big deal. Those merely speak to the mediocrity of bureaucracy. Boxes weren’t checked…forms weren’t filed…the hoops have to go. Rules…laws…blah, blah, blah.
No, this is a big deal because, out of almost a dozen basketball hoops being confiscated, only one resident resisted or complained in any way. The rest, presumably, just shrugged their shoulders and went along with the state.
This goes to the heart of our problem as a nation.
Fights over ObamaCare, Wall Street Bailouts, tax hikes, sweetheart deals or earmarks get all the headlines. Many of us spend our energies on those fights, because they seem like they are critical to the future direction of the country. No doubt, they are important and big issues, but I fear we’ve already ceded so much of our liberty that it is almost immaterial whether or not we win those ‘big’ fights.
We dutifully take off our shoes and throw away water bottles when going through an airport. We submit to physical pat-downs at the whim of security personnel. We follow government mandates to wear seat-belts, separate plastic from glass and prepare to part with the incandescent light bulb. We no longer smoke in bars–or in outdoor spaces. On and on…and on. And now we watch–again dutifully–as our basketball hoops are taken away.
Liberty is not ala carte. Give up enough of it-even on the small things-and liberty won’t be there when you need it.
This weekend, 4 colleges won the right to compete to be America’s collegiate champion. I wonder why they bother.
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