**(Kudos to ‘WChildBlog‘ for bringing this to our attention…)
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How many of us have ever wondered aloud about living more simple, less cluttered lives? Regardless of one’s motivation, regardless of whether any of us would actually CHOOSE it for ourselves, living without mankind’s modern “conveniences” does have a certain allure.
As long as we’re not hurting others, isn’t such a decision is up to us? In a free society, isn’t that our choice to make?
And if it’s not, then how free ARE we, …really?
So after this initial article on Fox4 News came out, Cape Coral’s city code enforcement officers showed up and proclaimed Robin Speronis’ house to be “unfit” for human habitation.
Did she have rats? No. Was she mixing dangerous chemicals that could potentially hurt others? No. Did she owe the city money? Again, no.
Admittedly, she’s selected a path few would follow. With all of our modern conveniences, it is tempting and all-too easy for most of us to get spoiled: cable, wi-fi, DirectTV, and home theater systems abound today. Even the most basic conveniences (electricity, running water, refrigerators, dishwasher, microwave, DVD player, gas stove, washer/dryer, etc.,...) were once unthinkable luxuries or only found in science fiction.
Yet people did live, quite happily, without what most of us would term ‘necessities’. And they not only lived, they flourished.
Those days were tougher, and more challenging, but they were also substantially freer.
And there’s the trade-off: FREEDOM. Do we now live in a country where your freedom is now at the whim and pleasure of whatever your local municipality says it is? Are “unalienable rights” just words, to be trotted-out and dusted-off before the annual fireworks display? Or do they actually mean something, and have a tangible impact on how we’re “allowed” to conduct our lives?
Personally, I like to think we still live in a free country. I like to believe that the United States is still what Ronald Reagan famously termed “a shining city on a hill“.
Yet in an age filled with IRS targeting, NSA eavesdropping, soda and light bulb bans, drones in the sky, state-controlled health care and now this, …what I like to think and what I actually think are increasingly becoming two very different things.
Two Heads are Better Than One 
We are only as free as the current Pesident says we are. It’s a crying shame that a ‘city official’ has such power over a human’s dignity. Thanks for sharing this lady’s story. Else I wouldn’t have heard it.
You’re welcome, Slayer! A terrible story: hope people take it as a warning.
The next such story will likely be worse.
Well, however horrid it is I know you’ll be on top of it.
Everyone has a purpose, Slayer.
This appears to be mine…
😀
🙂
Using this thinking, there’s a big chunk of the world living in unsafe, inhabitable homes. We are so spoiled, we’ve forgotten what a luxury is, the difference between a need and a want, and the difference between a right and a privilege.
Well said, Lori. And I agree.
We stopped being grateful for our blessings, and the Bible is full of examples of what happens to folks who are no longer grateful for God’s blessings.
We are clearly not as free as we used to be, the government seems to be unable to leave people that have done nothing wrong alone.
Power fuels control. And government has too much of both….
The “International Property Maintenance Code”??!!
Anyone want to place a bet that the Cape Coral city government simply wants her property but doesn’t want to play the eminent domain card?
They have an angle, no question. But that should be beside the point: no government should be able to pull this.
None.
This is just messed up. I’ve often thought of living off the grid, but for some reason, people that choose to do this are looked at as “crazy”. To me, as long as the place isn’t in squalor and she has a way to stay sanitary and warm, ….what’s the problem??? I agree with Pgh: they wanted the land. This is just wrong.
I wasn’t thinking that was their motivation, but now I’m not so sure.
The State wants (demands?) obedience: dissenters will be dealt with swiftly.
“All hail the terrible and all-powerful State!”
….Sound familiar?
Funny, I was just down there and hadn’t heard about it. Probably drove right by her house and didn’t know it. It’s a shame the govt. can’t let her alone.
Exactly. They’re drawing lines: it’s practically like they are spoiling for a fight….
Merry Christmas, partner, to you and your wonderful wife.
Blessings to you both!
Same back to you and your’s buddy.