References: ‘Thoreau Would Be Disgusted’: Walden Pond Swimming Restricted, Frustrating Open-Water Swimmers – CBS Boston (cbslocal.com); There were 18 drownings in Mass. in May alone. Here’s why such tragedies may be on the rise – The Boston Globe; Baker-Polito Administration Files Legislation to Improve Safety & Awareness, Discourage Swimming at Undesignated State Waterfronts | Mass.gov; As number of drownings grows, state’s response to limit swimming and increase fines draws criticism – The Boston Globe
Last Thursday, in the wake of a somewhat unusual cluster of drownings in the state, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced plans to file legislation imposing fines of up to $500 for people caught swimming in undesignated state waters, even in Walden Pond.
(And of course this has to turn into some supposedly racist thing. According to the Boston Globe (of course), “There are race and income divides among the tragedies. Drowning death rates for Black people are 1.5 times higher than for whites, and are 3.6 times higher for Black children ages 10-14 than white children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a 2017 study found that nearly 80 percent of children in families with household income less than $50,000 have no or low swimming ability.”)
Consequently, anyone who knows how to swim and enjoys so-called “open water” swimming, can’t. Again, everyone has to get dumbed down to the most common denominater because of a few knuckleheads. Next will be a special license to be able to swim anywhere, with different classes like drivers’ licenses, Class A is ocean, Class B is freshwater ponds, Class C is pools, etc. And don’t expect that license to be free. And of course there will be a practical test too, like the driving test. Every so often you’ll have to recertify yourself or no more swimming for you! Don’t laugh – if the Bidens of the world get their way, you won’t ever have to work anymore and the state will provide your housing, food, education (though this would be pretty useless if you don’t have to work), spouse, financial support (especially if you have kids), and they’ll put a transit stop right in front of where you live, etc. And give you a nanny.
That is, the state is making you wholly dependent on it. Think about that. Is that a good idea? Well, it sure is for the state. The more coddling, the bigger (more bloated, a cynic might say) the federal government gets, more people who work work for the feds, until pretty soon the feds will be the only employer. Forget hard work or self-reliance – to the woke crowd these are quaint antiquated notions that have no place in the modern world’s new religion of diversity and inclusion.
What could go wrong? Hmmm…. Remember, it was the Henry David Thoreau of Walden Pond who noted that:
“I heartily accept the motto, – “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, – “That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.”
Civil Disobedience (1849).