The State of Freedom in the District of Columbia

The District of Columbia should be called "the Berkley of the East." It is difficult to think of a local government where more leftist ideas enjoy a stronger measure of respectibility. In a series of essays, I will explore the impact of D.C.'s statist government on individual freedom and dignity.

The topics of discussion include:

< The dangers inherent in a one-party city and what must be done to change the status quo.

< The District's draconian handgun ban and restrictions on other weapons represent a violation of the fundamental right to self defense.

< The recently-enacted prescription drug price controls-via-trial-lawyer scheme demonstrates yet another example of governmental contempt for the producers in society.

< Midnight police stop and searches take place without even the existence of reasonable suspicion.

< The City Council is poised to pass a smoking ban in all D.C. restaurants, taking choice away from consumers in an effort to protect them from obvious dangers that they already account for when patronizing a restaurant.

< D.C.'s notoriously Byzantine bureaucracy is so out of control that no one-- not even employees within the government itself --knows for sure what the law is or how many permits (and from whom) are need to secure compliance with the regulatory regime.