BrianGarst.com

One of the many arguments against big, activist government is that government programs will crowd out normal neighborly compassion.  There are different ways it does this.  For instance, when people know that government welfare programs are available, they don’t feel as personally responsible to help others in need.  Even worse, those who try to offer even the simplest help or kindness run in to onerous government barriers and regulations, as happened here:

A Michigan woman who lives in front of a school bus stop says the state is threatening her with fines and possibly jail time for babysitting her neighbors’ kids until the bus comes, WZZM reports.

Lisa Snyder of Middleville, Mich., says she takes no money for watching the three children for 15-40 minutes each day so that the neighbors can get to work on time.

The Department of Human Services, acting on a complaint that Snyder was operating an illegal child care home, demanded she either get a license, stop watching the kids or face the consequences, WZZM says.

Not that it should matter if she was taking money, the government has no business inserting itself into private contracts.  A contract is nothing more than a compact for two or more free people to help each other.  In this case, one party was kind enough to be the only one offering benefits (though likely the parents would similarly help their baby-sitting neighbor if she needed it).  After all, that’s what good citizens do in a free society.

But when the government steps in and decides that some contracts are too risky for us to be trusted with (and so people need a “license” before they can offer certain benefits), we’re no longer in a free society.  We’re in a welfare state where big brother knows best.  And when big brother knows best and will likely throw up barriers of licenses, fines, red tape and maybe even jail for offering the simplest of neighborly help, many predictably throw up their hands say, “why bother?”

Hat-tip: Cato@Liberty