Monday, July 22, 2013

Liberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do in 1975 That You Can't Do Now

In 1975:

1.You could buy an airline ticket and fly without ever showing an ID.

2.You could buy cough syrup without showing an ID.

3.You could buy and sell gold coins without showing an ID

4.You could buy a gun without showing an ID

5.You could pull as much cash out of your bank account without the bank filing a report with the government.

6.You could get a job without having to prove you were an American.

7.You could buy cigarettes without showing an ID

8.You could have a phone conversation without the government knowing who you called and who called you.

9. You could open a stock brokerage account without having to explain where the money came from.

10. You could open a Swiss bank account with ease. All Swiss banks were willing and happy to open accounts for Americans.

There are thousands of other examples.The monitoring is in place all that is required from here is the clampdown.

The differences, between now and 1975 in the business sector are even more prevalent. In recent years, in industry after industry regulations and prohibitions have been poured on top of free markets. It doesn't look like things will get any better in years to come. Eventually, the economy will suffocate and collapse, if this continues.

71 comments:

  1. Man, you could go on forever with that list...

    Before I went paleo I used to suffer from allergies dramatically....the last decade of having to show ID and have SC track my sudafed purchases was annoying to say the least.

    I left my last job in part due to the flight policy changes shortly after 9/11.

    I'll bet you could literally list thousands of things you could do in 75' that you can't do now if you had the time and desire.

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  2. I was nine years old that year. My elementary school playground was open and unsupervised then. A true liability nightmare. I was into model rocketry at the time, and would launch said rockets from the playground (during non-school hours, of course), with my little brother in tow. Could you even imagine doing such a thing today that wouldn't involve multiple SWAT team responses?! Those were the days.

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    1. @Shimshon They Really can't let you do that now; you'd be bound to hit a drone, as it flies over to find out what you're doing on Holy Ground without permission....

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    2. Ahh.. playgrounds in the 1970s and well into the 80s. Limestone gravel with the playground equipment made from galvanized steel/iron pipe. Every year at least one kid fell and broke a bone.

      PS: also played with model rockets. I recently found and dismantled my model rocket launch pad I constructed out of an erector set. Buying one was too much money so I made one. And get this, I learned model rocketry in a government school summer program.

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  3. Doubt having to show an ID to buy a gun is going to cause the economy to collapse. It's easier to get a gun now than in 1975, no question about that.

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    1. Actually, it's easier to BUILD a gun than to buy one, these days.

      Sad, so sad.

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    2. It is true that it is easier today for criminals to get guns. And, more difficult for the law abiding. You see, criminals do not abide by the law, hence the designation "criminal", so all these restrictions and gun control laws, while restricting the law abiding, do nothing to make acquiring a gun, rifle, semi-automatic or automatic weapon more difficult for the "criminal", i.e., those who do not abide by the law! A valid point you make Jay Wolfgang, about criminals and their easier access to weapons!

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    3. Jay must be born in the 90's, because he's bought the lie that gun procurement has become far too easy now.

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    4. While I generally agree with the suggestion that we're being strangled by regulation at all levels, firearms ownership and concealed carry permit issuance is one huge exception. True, one has to fill out the BATF form to buy a gun now, but all but (I think) five states are now right-to-carry states, meaning you merely have to express a desire (not a need) to carry a handgun to be able to do so. I suspect that this is the case because gun owners, tired of being
      an oppressed minority, finally made their collective strength known to our verminous political class.

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    5. Wrong. In '75 you could purchase guns out of a catalog and have them mailed directly to your house.

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    6. are you dumb wolfgang? you used to be able to buy shot guns rifle and pistols at sears hahahahahahaha

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    7. I bought my deer rifle at "Joe the Motorist's Friend", 1972 at 18 yrs. old.

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  4. It's not just the "can" and "can't" of getting things done; it's also the mountains of paperwork to fill out now, zillions of outrageous additional requirements (A warning label approved and reviewed by the FTC is required to put A BALL OF STRING for sale on a retail shelf. REALLY?), and, of course, the inefficiency (wasted time, wasted taxpayer money, wasted business money, wasted consumer money) that is inevitable when dealing with employees who practically cannot be fired.

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    1. we can't be as litigious as we'd like if we don't place warnings. You do realize that without that warning some moron is going to hang himself with the ball of string and then the string manufacturer will be sued (and lose) by his surviving family. I will readily admit we spend a lot of time protecting business from stupid people. Unfortunately we have to spend an equal amount of time protecting people from malicious business practices.

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    2. Wait just a minute there. You said the moron could sue (true) and win (what???) against the manufacturer? Uhm, we used to have something called common sense that over-rode technicalities when a jury passed judgement. That stopped all that stuff. ...although it's been gone probably longer than 1975.

      Now, judges do not allow defense lawyers to inform them that juries can rule either way based on their own impressions of right/wrong. Heck, juries even have the right to nullify laws that they deem against their meaning of the Constitution or morals. Good luck hearing that when you're called.

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  5. I could touch my toes in 1975, but I can't now.

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    1. Cut your sugar and your bread.

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    2. As witty as you think you were being, it could just be a loss of flexibility.

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    3. " it could just be a loss of flexibility"

      Question is, what caused this? Enter Heath's comment...

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  6. In 1975, I could drive without a seatbelt, ride in the back of a pickup, buy beer as an 18-year-old, cross the border into Canada with just a driver's license, blow .08 on a breathalyzer without facing DUI charges, and ride a bicycle *barefoot and without a helmet*.

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    1. wear a buck knife on your belt at school, have the truck loaded with shotguns at school, even had a hangover once or twice at school legally. used the gun range in the basement of the school and learned how to shoot a bow there to. the police would follow you home if you were slightly impaired just to see that you got there safe. fill the tank in the truck for less than 20.00 plus buy snacks and soda with the change. Swim across the St. Clair river to the donut shop in Canada, with people just saying that them boys are gonna kill themselves.(never did)didn't even have to go thru customs or anything. drank Pepsi and coke from heavy glass bottles. don't remember them having a diet soda, but do remember Tab.Telling ma, that we were gonna go fishing and hunting for a few days and no one worried or came looking for us. With us being teenagers they might have been hoping we would get abducted by Aliens or something because we were allowed to run wild. never did harm to anyone didn't do anything destructive to peoples property. And the fear of dad was right up there next to our fear of God.

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    2. Me a few of my boyhood friends were walking along a dirt road when I was 8 years old in farm country(about an hour drive north of Detroit) with a sling shot, BB gun, & a .22 slung over our shoulders and a cop drove by, he stopped and waited for us to catch up and told us "Make sure you boys don't go shooting any hawks, that's illegal." and then pulled away. That was 79'.

      My mom used to let me out of the house at 5 years old...we lived in heavy woods and the closest neighbors we at least a 1/4 mile away....I'd just run around the woods wild for hours up until I was around 9 or 10 and we moved to a suburb of Detroit.

      Even then, I used to drop into bars as a kid to play arcade games @ 12 after collecting cans for money.

      I'd imagine all those things would end with a policeman driving me home and lecturing my parents today(maybe the gun stuff lands me in jail at 8?).

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    3. edit: "Me and a few of my boyhood" and "neighbors were"


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    4. :) And back in the '70s, schools taught enough grammar that we were all conscientious proofreaders! Now they are too busy with social issues to bother.

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  7. It used to be that laws and regulations were put in place to prevent people from doing bad things to other people. Now laws and regulations are put in place to prevent good people from enjoying the fruits of their labor! Mark Levine's book Ameritopia has a chapter in it about regulations and how much it costs Americans everyday. He starts with an example of building a home. Now think about how much crap the EPA has dealt out on building regulations since 1975. It can go on for pages and pages. There is a completely new branch of government since 1975 and it is the administrative branch, something our Found Fathers never dreamed would happen. Can you imagine how many pages it would take to list the things you can't do now that you COULD do in 1776!

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    1. actually there have always been 3 branches of government

      Legislative
      Judicial
      Administrative

      I guess I don't understand where you get the idea that the Administrative branch did not come into existence until 1975?

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    2. You do realize that the Administrative Branch has always been there right?

      1)Legislative
      2)Judicial
      3)Administrative

      Since 1776 not 1975.

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    3. Executive, not Administrative, Ken. A very different thing.

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    4. you all didn't the administrative branch. nothing to do with the other 3. This one the one that you have to deal with through all the new regulations and restrictions.

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    5. Most/all of those regulatory/intelligence agencies are subordinate to the executive branch. This administrative branch you're hawking about is simply the tentacle.

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  8. My Buddies and I when Planning to go hunting would have our truck pack up at school with shotguns and everything, Had buck knives on our belt. while at school. no-one was ever harmed or felt threatened. All of us could jump in the back of a pickup and ride down the streets, not just in the country but threw town. didn't have to wear seat belts, or put the kids in child seat or booster seats. The drinking age was 18. I could go on and on. Freedom is a great memory.

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  9. the past is another country, they do things differently there.

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  10. you could leave the country without permission
    you could buy a honda trail 90
    you could buy a lightweight 2 cycle boat motor

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  11. In the 1960's you could buy dynamite from your local hardware without a license. You could make a pond or shoot things in the air or blow up a rock or dig out a basement (1/6 of a stick takes out about 1/2 yard of nasty clay) or cut a live power line. My job was to hold the box in my lap while my friend tried to hit every bump in the road (he later died in a terrible auto accident, oops). We blew up all kinds of stuff, compost piles (dead cows), windmills, outbuildings, and many, many, many tree stumps including an 8' diameter stump covered with poison ivy. We carefully taped all the windows in the house, we put up plywood blast shields, we did several calculations (then added three sticks), but the fallout put my dad in the hospital covered with boils for a week, radioactivity eh?, should have seen that one coming.

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  12. In 1975, I turned in a report for a 9th grade Sociology-type class, taught by an annoying substitute/student teacher whom I did not like, that probably would have gotten me suspended, by today's standards. The assignment was, "The person you most admire," and I admired the Playmate of the Year from my older brother's Playboy magazine. I did a thorough job of delineating her greatest qualities, complete with a carefully cut out photo collage. The dweeby substitute made a point of commenting after class that he, too, admired my choice. I got an A on the assignment, too. I have looked back at that youthful prank a few times and wondered what might have happened in today's politically correct world.

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  13. You could buy dishwashers that worked, water heaters that got your water hot, freon that cooled your car, detergent that got your clothes clean, and light bulbs that lighted your house. The streets were not cluttered with concrete barriers dividing the lanes so you could pass slow cars, and not cluttered with speed bumps. You didn't have to show your ID twice to fill a prescription, or to check into a hotel. Cyclists did not wear helmets and ride in the middle of the street. Stop signs were installed only at busier intersections, not everywhere, and you could turn left on any green light without needing a green left turn arrow.

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    1. I've never had to show ID when refilling a prescription. Heck, I could send anyone I please to go pick it up as long as they know my name and birthday. I mean, I've only ever had them filled in CA and TX, but maybe it's just the pharmacy you use??? I do wish there was a little more precaution considering ANYONE can pick up your meds, but needing an ID is a little much.

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    2. At walgreens here they only require ID on class 2 controlled narcs and opioid meds. And on all prescriptions you have to give name, address and phone number. Of course first you'd have to know that there's even a prescription there to be picked up.

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  14. I raced cars with my ten speed, never won but had lots of fun with drivers, todat you would get shot or run over.

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  15. The summer of 1970 we were in El Paso visiting my dad's sister at their farm; I was not quite eight. A cousin and I were playing with firecrackers. I lit one and dropped it, but it never exploded. We figured it was a dud, so we left it there. It had gotten hot, though, and caught the surrounding dry grass on fire. Maybe the sparks from the fuse had done it; we never knew. We tried to stamp it out at first, but the fire got away from us. It wasn't very long before my dad's brother-in-law and some neighbors came to put it out. The police and fire dept never showed, but my cousin and I still got into some pretty hot water.

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  16. In the '70s, an adult could have an affair with a teen without being placed on the sex offenders' registry and facing prison and probation.

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    1. It's a good thing that has changed! A teenager can be easily influenced by someone older than them. And let's say maybe they were into it at first, but not so much part of the way through. The teen may be too scared, embarrassed, or powerless to stop the engagement. It's pretty much the same thing as two adults having an affair, but one is in a position of power over the other. Ex: A doctor or therapist and their patient, a teacher and student, an employer and employee, etc. Of course, the lines of what would be considered okay in any of these cases is blurry. Like someone who is 19 dating a 16 year old. Or the clique of someone dating their assistant. Or a teacher-student relationship between two people well into adulthood (not legally adult teenagers or "last stages of adolescence" 20 somethings), where the relationship does not impact the class or work (Preferably, these two were not acquainted within the classroom).

      Even with these blurred lines of what should be okay, some changes have definitely been for the better.

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    2. ..and in the 70s the brothers, father and or uncles of the teen could beat the crap out of the adult that had sex with their teen family member and not get in trouble with the law! :-)

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    3. Yea, cause a 19 year old having an affair with a 17 year old is just way wrong, right?

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  17. We played dodge ball in the school gym. We shot cap guns, and rode bicycles without helmets. We had fistfigts in the school yard, threw dirt bombs and itchy balls at each other. We settled arguments playing asses up. We gambled at casino night in the church, had egg fights on Halloween and played run, catch and kiss with the local girls. We never went past second base. When your mom called to you from the window, you got upstairs quick.

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    1. 90's baby here: Played dodge ball in the school gym and playground, owned and shot cap guns, rode/ride my bicycle without a helmet, played asses up (we called it butts up b/c we were 10) to solve arguments and just because it was fun, and most people I know didn't go past 1st until well after high school (keep in mind I live in one of the highest rated cities of teen pregnancy, in one of the highest rated states of teen pregnancy (Yay, Bible belt!)). I'm assuming what you mean by that last sentence was that you were quick to respond to your mother, which my siblings and I did/ do as well. I don't know if the window and stairs carry any importance, or if you just has to run up some stairs to go inside.

      Not sure what dirt bombs or itchy balls are, but what did a fistfight ever ACTUALLY solve?

      Honestly, your comment is missing the point of this post. The author is trying to point out what restrictions the government has put on us since 1975, not generation bash.

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    2. Furthermore, you can still gamble at a casino night in a church. That is up to each individual church.

      It might be more taboo now than it was before (honestly, I don't know), but if you really want to gamble at a church, I'm sure you can search for a church that does that.

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    3. Only a girl would think that fighting doesn't solve anything. Sometimes it is the right tool for the job.

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    4. sofie i think you are missing the point....everything he listed a things that TODAY not in 1990's you can no longer do....and i was born in 1988 and grew up in the 90's.. it was starting to fade out more during that time but i still learned that if your going to fight someone you do it outside, 1 on 1 no ganging up on anyone, and once either person taps out or says theyve had enough the fight is over and you help them up and shook their hand, 90% of the time you and that guy would end up being friends afterward so yes BACK THEN when a fight had honor and respect they DID solve small issues between teens and taught a lesson. today kids try and knock people out cold for absolutely no reason at all, they will team up 10 kids against 1...a "fight" today is much much different then what it was as short of a time ago as the 90's

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    5. What did a fistfight ever actually resolve?

      Well, it resolved bullying issues for a lot of kids. Ever notice how as schools became less and less tolerant of fighting, more and more kids were bullied and it also took new forms (cyberbullying, if you think that's an actual thing)?

      You're mistaken in your belief that violence is wrong. It's not preferable, but it's also not necessarily wrong. Aggression - initiating force or fraud against someone else - is wrong. Violence can be used in defense of oneself.

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  18. Weren't people required to register guns and show ID since the Gun Control Act of 1965? I would like for this blogger to cite his sources because I am getting the feeling that not everything he lists is accurate.

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  19. I guess it depends on where you live 60's baby here with 3 79, 83 n 86 babies grew up in the country and they would pack a lunch and leave on horseback in the morning riding in the woods and be home by dark. Two 14 yr old girls caught riding a quad home drunk at 3 am our Police officer hid the quad in the bushes and took the drunk little girls home pounded on the front door and handed them over to dad! No police record, dad handled it. The girls grew up to be responsible adults. I can list the laws they broke besides under age drinking, driving w/o lic. unregistered vehicle, no helmets. Another friends wife had a baby boy, third kid, dad was driving home after visiting with friends a lot too much to drink. Our police officer parked the car and took him home. "Protect and Serve" remember the police that used to live that way? That is what I miss. Now it is taxation by citation with lying druggie cops. My husband recently got a ticket, I was with him, locked in cruise control at 71 (speeds 65) screaming cop wrote him up for 84, no way. Judge determines lying druggie cop (on meth) is telling the truth and we are both lying. No ticket in 30 years till that. Welcome to the USSA Land of the fee and home of the slave.

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  20. "It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards."
    - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

    Above = "Problems"
    Below = Viable solutions

    - www.dollarvigilante.com
    - www.escapefromamerica.com
    - www.escapeartist.com
    - www.theelevationgroup.com
    - http://tdvpassports.com
    - www.globalwealthprotection.com

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  21. Next up: 10 ways you could have gotten killed in 1975 that aren't likely to happen now. Some people always think the grass is greener on the inaccurately remembered side of the fence.

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    1. After that: 10 Reasons Personal Responsibility Is A Great Thing

      Because some people seem to think that just because some people are incompetent that everyone should be governed as such.

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  22. In 1979 two friends and I were playing around with firecrackers not damaging anything just making noise when I was arrested and charged with a firearms infraction for being in possession of a (1) "Black cat" firecracker In Fairfax County Virginia.I was not aware they were illegal in Va.

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  23. Bunch of whiners.

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  24. In Junior High School, in the mid-west around 1970, we were instructed in a school-sponsored NRA firearms safety class. Got to shoot real rifles - probably .22 caliber. There was nothing controversial about it. No one was hurt.

    We would shoot lots of black cat firecrackers when I was a kid. Some people had M80's, etc - I personally never had one, but I'd buy one today if I could. We'd shoot roman candles and bottle rockets that blew up, etc. Today you'd be called a racist if you had a "black cat" firecracker!!! (It's true!!!)

    I don't remember a lot of stories about mass shootings in those days. There were some, but I doubt there were several per year.

    I did see a documentary on TV decades ago where mice were put in a cage of fixed size and given all the food and water they wanted. As the population exploded and conditions became crowded, the mice spent large quantities of time grooming themselves, and random acts of violence became frequent. Sounds familiar.

    Back in those days people went to work for a company, and after a career of 30 or 40 years they'd be given a pension to live on in old age. Craporations are now free to not have to provide that benefit any more. NOW, all retirees have for certain is Social Security, and many want to take THAT away from them; and many CLAIM (they never give any real data) it's broke and old farts in 10 or 20 years will have NOTHING.

    There weren't many blacks (none in our schools) where I grew up and no Mexicans that I was aware of, and no Indians, Asians, Russians, Latinos, Middle-Easterners, etc. Now whites are a minority; and some people say we need more immigrants. Apparently in at least one way "we" are more free: to enter the US, illegally and/or legally - apparently there is no limit today.





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  25. In 1975, you could also get free paraquat when you bought your weed.

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  26. 1975......a 12 pack was $2.20, cigs were under $2 a carton, gas was about $.28 a gallon, Pepsi and fries was a dime, a hamburger a quarter with over a million sold (hahahaha).

    You could fill the car with gas and kids, buy smokes for everyone, feed everyone, and drive an hour to the beach and back to enjoy a full day of skipping school...... for around $10

    Those were the days........

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  27. The time is past to water the tree of liberty.
    I stand with my chains in my hand waiting for my brethren to join me.
    Will you die free?

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  28. What we should examine are the things that occur now that didn't then...and why. We are victims of our own successes and failures. Too many people took advantage of some of the liberties we had and the results was the (often times non-thinking) financial majority levying more and more restriction upon the rest of us regular folk.
    There are many things available now that weren't then, some being a result of losing what once was. On the other hand, I remember the "fear of Dad" as much as anyone else and the words "wait til your father gets home" always got me trembling. Furthermore, I remember being a teen and more or less having the freedom to go and do wherever and whatever I chose (providing it wasn't illegal or involved hurting anyone). School still sucked then (though I accelled at all of my courses) and, while I did not have so much fear of being shot or stabbed, getting in fights (which I did, often on the losing side) occurred frequently. The 70's were good, if you lived in the right place (e.g. not in a big city).

    My point is that the irresponsibility of the few have burdened the rest of us with restriction. Just think of the type of environment a child would have to grow up in to consider a plan that involves mass murder and suicide. Is it the fault of the child, the parent(s), the economy, the bureaucracy, all, or none? Did such an environment exist then (1975)? Who created the type of society I just described? We did...at least those of us old enough to remember "the good old days"...

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  29. So the point is to turn back time and once again free ourselves from government oppression. If you have not picked an issue you are passionate about to repeal or end, kindly get after it. I say concentrate on your state issues first as this will be a tool we will use to strike back against the feds. Emails and phone calls are effective but are hard to measure so you get frustrated from time to time but keep them up. Bring heat to you local politicians, it is what they understand. Join a local group and share responsibilities for obtaining a goal. Go to the mirror and look at yourself and repeat," I am the one I have been waiting for."

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  30. Never seen a 2.00 carton of cigarettes. Been smoking since 1974. Yes I am nit picking. Yes I need to quit again and stay quit this time.

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  31. What we should examine are the things that occur now that didn't then...and why. We are victims of our own successes and failures. Too many people took advantage of some of the liberties we had and the results was the (often times non-thinking) financial majority levying more and more restriction upon the rest of us regular folk.

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  32. In 1969, when I was 9 years old, my folks would give me change (I think about 35 cents) to buy them a pack of cigs from the machine in the gas station across the street.

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  33. I am pleased to report that you can still get a drivers license in Oklahoma at age 14. I did. Can't believe you can still do it.
    http://www.dps.state.ok.us/dls/apply/dl_motorcycle14.html

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  34. Over-crowding (i.e., over-population) ruins everything.

    In 1975 California Highway 9 ran clear over the coastal mountain range with exactly one stop-light. Today I've lost count.

    Open-borders is the main reason we're much more crowded today than we were then.

    Not "hate" -- just a fact! Don't let our politicians get away with this!

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