Permits
Why do you need permission?
Another form of regulation in our lives are “permits”. If you live in a city and you want to remodel your home, you probably have encountered the requirement to get a permit.
Want to have a fire in a fire pit? Apply for a permit!
Want to finish your basement? Apply for a permit!
What is better, common sense or government tyranny?
Certainly we don’t want our neighbors to burn down our home due to being stupid while burning a fire. But will having a permit really prevent this?
We don’t want to have mold problems or unstable walls in a room we build in our basement. But does getting a permit do anything to prevent this? We could argue that inspection of construction might notice a bad design.
Are permits an attempt to prevent or penalize stupidity? My opinion is that nothing is going to prevent stupidity. Perhaps we should have more education as children to use good judgment, do some research and be responsible for our own decisions and mistakes?
One city lists these as the reasons for getting a permit:
A permanent record of the work performed and the inspections conducted for insurance needs, resale value, and general knowledge of the history of the property.
To assure a level of work that is “code compliant” resulting in a confident level of safety and lasting construction with the intent of avoiding future problems.
Work that has been completed without the proper permits and inspections becomes a liability to the property owner and contractor. Work that has been completed without a permit may require an engineering evaluation and report, possible destructive testing, removal of wall coverings, and the replacement of plumbing or other various elements of the un-permitted construction.
The first two seem to be feel good reasons. The third seems to be a threat (do as we say or we might rip it out). The first concerns me because by doing work that is documented with a permit you might incur future costs resulting from increased insurance premiums or property taxes.
Closely related to permits are licenses. In many cities all pets must be licensed.
In one city it costs $7 per year to register an un-fixed pet and $3 per year for a fixed pet. This appears to be government encouraging a behavior (getting your pet fixed). You must also provide proof of vaccination. If my cat is an indoor cat do I really have to pay the city every year for the privilege of having a cat? Is this just a nuisance ordinance? Who is going to go around from house to house checking if there is a cat there and whether or not the cat is licensed? Do I really need the city to tell me that I’m required to provide “a steady supply of water, adequate food and medical care”? Are there actual laws to back up these rules?
Does the government have the right to force me to vaccinate my pets? Sure we don’t want rabid dogs (or cats) wandering the streets. But if my cat stays indoors does it really matter? Rabies is a virus. What about all the people that are now claiming that there is no such a thing as a virus? Shouldn’t pet hamsters be vaccinated too?
Are you aware that the latest CDC report (2018) indicated only 241 cases of rabies in cats. Hmm… there are a heck of a lot of feral cats wandering around not vaccinated and nobody is running around vaccinating raccoons, skunks, bats or foxes. Maybe we should just let nature take it’s course and tolerate a rare case of rabies?
Over the period of 1960 to 2018 (58 years) there were 89 cases of human rabies, 70% of which were attributed to bats. Is anyone running around vaccinating bats? Dog bites during international travel accounted for 36 of the cases. That leaves, in a span of 58 years possibly one case of rabies due to an infected cat. Gawd, I’m just terrified! Quick! Vaccinate all the cats in the USA!
Perhaps you believe the claim that before 1960 there was a problem with dogs having rabies. Well from 1938 to 1960 (22 years) we only see an additional 499 human cases (less than 23 cases per year in the entire USA).
Yet for the fear from these few cases an average of 55,000 people were treated for “potential rabies exposure”.
Not only must my pet be licensed but it must display a license tag “at all times”. Really? My indoor cat is required to wear a collar just so I can admire it’s license all day long? Where is common sense?
Perhaps the real reason for permits is just to increase government revenue? Yet another tax!
What are your thoughts? Do permit requirements serve the public good?
I am staggered to learn that a cat permit is a thing, and renewable annually...! Presumably the enforcement is delegated to veterinarians who would record the lack of permit when administering treatment?
Here in the UK it becomes law in June of this year for all cats to have an identity chip. I believe the rationale is so that lost cats can be identified, and if a moggy is scraped off the road its owner can be told the bad news, and if the State decides cats need to be culled (which was talked about during the Coronavirus insanity) the man in the white suit knows which doors to knock on.
The last three cats we had: the first was jabbed and chipped as a kitten in ultra law-abiding fashion. He disappeared one night aged three and we never saw him again. Fat lot of good the chip did.
The next cat was a semi-feral beast who was creeping into a friend's garden and frightening her dogs (and stealing their food). We adopted her and she went to the vet once for a general check. Fine... and he confirmed her gender (and lack of i.d. chip). Never saw a vet again, hated all other cats with ardour, died peacefully in her old age.
Our current cat came to us as a tiny kitten and the only time he ever went near a vet was after coming home bleeding profusely from a bite (most likely a fox). He was only a few months old. The vet tidied things up and provided an antibiotic. This led to partial kidney failure and I still remember the night we settled him down into his sleeping donut not expecting to see him alive again. We discontinued the treatment after two doses. He's now 15 years old and thriving, less interested in bringing home mice but otherwise the same as ever. And he is not going in any database.
As far as I'm concerned a drivers license is the same thing. Even a passport. Marriage licenses.... The things that ẁe as humans naturally do, do not require the permission of a fictional entity enforced by an automaton. When it comes to construction... well... I fix stuff that should've never been done and a lot of it is still being done in new and inspected construction. If you rely on government for peace of mind, you've already lost your mind.