After showing the revenue agent a copy of my flyer, she asked the question, "Are you a licensed contractor?" ...pause... I have to pause here because I do not see the relevancy of the question. Somehow the government employee thinks it is relevant. Somehow the government employee thinks that you need to have a license before you can publish a list of your skills in order to serve your good neighbors. Here we go... now we get into a conversation where I must destroy all the fallacies that have been pumped into this government employee's head. She is going to rattle through all of the government's justifications for issuing me the citations... This is nuts! Evidently, these government employees are not capable of an independent, moral, and just reasoning process. The best they can do is repeat the justifications that have been given to them by their "superiors."
While keeping a pleasant demeanor, I asked her, "Does it say on my flyer that I am a licensed contractor?" I do not need to have a license to do work for my neighbors. According to the constitution, I have a right to publish a list of my skills. She responded that the constitution does not apply to state laws, to which I replied, "I was surprised to find that the Washington State Constitution says that the U.S. Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land. No matter what your government lawyers say, supreme still means supreme! And government employees still take an Oath of Office to support our Supreme Law of the Land." That shut her down on that. She begins to realize that she is not going to convince me, nevertheless that does not stop her from trying.
Do I need to list all of her straw man scenarios designed to put fear in me as I work with good neighbors without having a license from the state to do so? They are all same... designed to make me think that I need the government to protect me from my neighbors and protect my neighbors from me.
1. There are crooked apartment owners who look for unlicensed people to repair their apartments, and then they tell the service provider that they are dissatisfied with the work done and will not pay. They know that the unlicensed repairman cannot go to WDLI to force compensation for work done because he is not licensed. Therefore, I need to be in the system so that I can get WDLI to force the crooked apartment owner to pay me. She said these crooks scour Craigslist looking for people who do not publish their license numbers.
Answer: WOW! Everybody is a criminal in the minds of government employees... And since government employees are good guys, they are the ones who can save you... So, because there are bad apartment owners, I need to be fined $1500.00 for hanging a flyer on a bulletin board??? How the hell does that compute in her mind? "Well, it seems to me that we have civil courts and small claims courts to use to force crooks to pay for services rendered."
2. She gave an example of a woman who needed her septic system repaired. She hired an unlicensed guy to install a new septic system in her backyard. The system they installed did not work and they tore up her yard and she was unable to recoup damages because the guy was not licensed and bonded. WDLI could not help her because she hired an unlicensed contractor. She could not recoup from the bondsman because the contractor was not bonded. She noticed that I am a man of principle and that I would want insurance for my mistakes to protect my customers.
Answer: So, because there are bad service providers out there, I need to be fined $1500.00 for hanging a flyer on a bulletin board? How does that compute in her mind? Well, it seems to me that we have civil courts and small claims courts to use to force crooks to pay for damages created." Once again, everyone is a criminal and government employees are the good guys
What is going on here? Is she trying to put me under the spell she is under? She wants me to participate in her system because her salary depends on it, and she is the good guy. She is blind to the fact that BAD GUYS attempt to extort $1500.00 from people who publish a list of their skills and post them on a bulletin board.
3. Fairness. Here she brings up the downturn in the economy and WDLI started receiving complaints from their licensed contractors who were losing work supposedly because unlicensed contractors were coming from Idaho and Montana and competing for work with lower bids because they were unfairly without the burden of complying with WDLI regulations. WDLI needed to crack down on the "underground economy."
Answer: Good grief! "Underground economy" is just another scare word. It is bad... I reminded her that the Soviet Union had a centralized economy and 25 million people starved to death. If it wasn't for the underground economy, 50 million people might have starved to death. The underground economy is a good thing. People doing things without government interference is a good thing. If licensed contractors are complaining about unfair regulations and unfair competition, then they ought to change the regulations. Let people do what they want to do. If I want to hire my neighbor to help me build a garage, I may choose which ever neighbor I want to choose, and then work together as good neighbors without government employee interference... If he screws me over, I can take him to court. If I screw him over, he can take me to court. Gee, I am not falling under her spell...
We went on to discuss the moral foundations of law, and how government lawyers apply law and interpret law to benefit government. There is no moral foundation for fining me $1500.00 for hanging a flyer on a bulletin board. I told her that one of my goals was to educate government employees, and that I appreciate her willingness to listen to me. I said the pendulum has swung too far and the little guys like her need to be equipped to stand up to their misguided "superiors." 30 years ago, no government employee would have had the audacity to issue $1500.00 fines to my father, and my father would not have put up with it. He would have punched the government employee in the nose. Why do you think I should put up with it?
I succeeded in giving her a lot to think about. However, I have reconsidered my request that all government employees be given training in our state and federal constitutions and the history surrounding those constitutions. It is now obvious that training in constitutional government would be insufficient. From the above, and from all the rest of my experiences with government employees, THEY NEED TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO REASON CORRECTLY ON THE BASIS OF MORAL AND RIGHT CONDUCT TOWARD YOUR NEIGHBOR. They fall for the nonsense coming down from their "superiors." The government employees at the bottom carrying out the orders from above simply shove aside any and all conviction that comes from the fact that their good neighbors would not do to them what their superiors are asking them to do to their good neighbors. These low level minions collecting their government paychecks NEED TRAINING IN MORAL VALUES FOUNDED IN LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR AND DOING THE RIGHT THING INDEPENDENT OF ALL THE FALSE AND FLIMSY JUSTIFICATIONS CITED BY THEIR SUPERIORS FOR MORE AND EXPANDING GOVERNMENT POWER AND CONTROL. They need to be unbrainwashed... and that would be hard to do since their paychecks, their means of taking care of themselves, depends on them following orders from their superiors.
What a mess. I could not do what they do. I would quit, and my superiors would be glad I quit. They would easily find a low IQ replacement for me. Looks to me like it is going to take some bad shit hitting the fan before America is to return to a moral constitutional republic with liberty and justice for all.
I pray that this blog is educating some people... Geeze... and then you have the whining contractors begging the government to protect them from people who simply want to serve their neighbors. How low will America go? Shame, shame, shame... Where is integrity, dignity, independence, and a desire for honesty, simplicity, and friendly communities? Where? Where are those things? They certainly are not found being taught in government schools... Excuse me. I am done. I need to go throw up now...
EDIT: Oh, while I was throwing up I remembered one other funny thing that the revenue agent said. While talking about needing to be bonded she mention that she herself had hired a contractor to remodel her bathroom. When it was done the lights blinked off and on again randomly. The plumbing in the shower leaked and she has not been able to take a shower in her new bathroom. She said that she was glad she used a licensed contractor because his being bonded and insured will make it right--- then she paused and second to think and asked herself why the remodel wasn't done correctly in the first place. ----then she answered her own question, as if expecting me to be saying what she was saying... "the contractor probably sent over an employee who did not know how to do the work properly..." I looked at her kind of puzzled, but moved on to another point. LOL! I guess I was having an effect. Good reasoning that cannot be argued with must have flustered her a little. Oh well!
It must be said that "We the people should not have to educate and unbrainwash government employees every time we encounter them 'just doing their job.'" They should be able to think and reason in terms of common sense, common decency, and good neighbors prior to getting their government job. They can't just fine people $1500.00 without a conviction by a jury of good neighbors. That is what our constitutions say... Good grief!
Due to the fact that I know history, and also have colorful relatives and ancestors, I was amused with the business card that I picked up at the WDLI office in Spokane. Seems they really do have a position titled "Revenue Agent." In the 1920's my Missouri backwoods grandpa was a child. It was during Prohibition. Grandpa was posted down the road from the moonshine still to watch out for "revenuers." LOL! That cracks me up. I cannot imagine carrying around a business card that says "Revenue Agent." It is also amusing to me that the backwoods Missourians were smarter than today's supposedly educated population. The backwoods moonshiners resisted government interference and extortion, too. I just bring that up because it tickles me. I do know that distilling liquor in improperly constructed stills can poison and and kill people. My great grandpa's still never poisoned or killed anyone. If it did, grandpa said it would have killed him and my great grandpa, and grandma, and aunts, uncles... They drank their own White Lightin', too. LOL! ...Must have been fun outsmarting the revenuers back then. I love adventure!
Anyway, from my perspective and upbringing I would be embarrassed carrying around a business card that says, "Revenue Agent." Perhaps other people just don't know any better... LOL!
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