<...Maybe in the name of public works, we should let government bureaucrats decide where everyone gets to live and work, how many children they can have, what type of vehicle (if any) they're allowed to own, what religious beliefs they can have (if any), etc. In the name of efficiency, we can force everyone to live in apartment buildings in densely populated cities with no more than 300 square feet per person, share communal kitchens, use public transportation, and all make the same income (excepting the bureaucrats who make all these decisions).

Sorry Mary Anne, but however extreme this sounds there are plenty of societies right now where exactly such restrictions are commonplace. And worse. Not too many years past more people on Earth lived under such conditions than did not. I don't think this is still true--but maybe I am overly optimistic. I have read plenty of dead-serious proposals for just such restrictions in our own country. Thank God the proposers don't have the political power to enforce it. Yet.

Just in a recent newspaper (can't find a link) there was a proposal in a town that all houses must be built with front porches, since a local bureaucrat decided that it was socially desirable. He stands a good chance of pulling it off unless opponents can marshall enough resistance. Humorous, yes, but the idea that such things are even considered possible is frightening. Ideas like this sprout up daily. This bureaucrat operating on a national level isn't quite as funny any more.

San Jose, just down the road, proposes a law requiring everyone to landscape their front yards. Who do you think is going to be hit hardest by this? The rich?

There is literally almost no human activity at this point in our history that is not considered a legitimate area for government control. There is almost nothing where everyone stands up and says, "hey, this is not something the government should have a say in."

The slow encroachment of centralized power over our lives in this country has allowed us to accustom ourselves to centralized controls over our lives that would have appalled our ancestors. We're frogs in slowly boiling water. Larry's post seems outlandish now. But given that we have accepted the right of our government to rule every aspect of our lives, it won't be outlandish forever.