TheMiddleofSomewhere A grab bag of interests

I’ve always been a law-abiding citizen. If anything, I may be a bit too rule-oriented. I even put on my turn signal when I’m driving on a sand road in the middle of the N. J. Pine Barrens, miles away from any other cars. I always get a warm feeling whenever I hear the phrase “a nation of laws, not men.” The thought that I would ever spend any time in jail was foreign to me, until recently.

Now, gradually, the possibility of just that is beginning to come into focus. The longer the present federal administration implements its domestic agenda, the greater the likelihood that I (and others like me) will spend time in the pokey.

One of the more obvious ways I might end up behind bars could come from being apprehended behind the wheel of the wrong kind of car. I usually drive a car until it dies, a practice that rules out the purchase of a snazzy new electric hybrid. Or maybe I’ll inadvertently step beyond a police barrier at a Tea Party demonstration.

I know, I know. It sounds paranoid. They don’t throw people in jail for such things. Not here. Not yet.

What about stocking up on incandescent light bulbs and then actually using them in my lamps. Of course, I’ll probably run out of them just about the time they stop selling them anywhere, so I’ll be saved on that one.

One serious danger may be getting caught buying medical treatment on the black market. Paying a doctor for individualized treatment is sure to become a serious offense no matter how necessary.

Or I might be locked up for trying to sell my house without submitting to an acceptable governmental energy inspection.

The trouble with me is that I’m getting up in years, and I’m used to being free, acting on my own volition without asking for permission from bureaucrats. It looks now, however, that unless something drastic happens, I’ll eventually do something on the government’s don’t do list and end up doing time. Maybe we’ll be in the same cell. I call top bunk!