Quite a while ago, when I was still serving in the U.S. Navy, a buddy of mine told me a joke. It was one of what I consider the "classic" styles of jokes, where the person asks a seemingly serious question, and then, after the "I don't know reply" from the audience, finishes off with an answer that is unexpected and (hopefully) humorous. In this case, the question was "What's the difference between the Navy and the Sea Scouts?" The "joke" answer was "The Sea Scouts have adult supervision."
The joke generally got a laugh because most people in the service had run into situations where the implication, that the Navy did NOT have adult supervision, seemed pretty reasonable. There were times I was forbidden to wear a uniform winter coat while there was still snow on the ground because the regulations transitioned to summer dress by date, not temperature. There were times I was pulled out of my bed after near 20 hour shifts to clean an area, not because it was dirty, but because a senior officer was coming and we wanted to make a "good impression." There were other examples, but hopefully most people can see my point. Most people have probably experienced my point, if not in the military than in some other kind of bureaucracy.
It isn't as though the military has a corner on silly rules and decisions in the work place. They just have one of the best mechanisms for making sure that the silly rules are followed. (Trust me, when you can't quit the job, and the alternative to following the order is confinement, loss of pay, or going to a felony trial, you are willing to go along with a lot.) Sadly, all of us find ourselves in a similar predicament, not at work, but in our daily lives. Both the number of silly rules and the mechanisms for enforcement are growing. And growing. And growing. And as this happens, we are losing not only freedom, but the concepts that make freedom possible.
I remember a time in my life when there was a concept of being an "adult." The idea was that eventually all of the children would "grow into one." That was considered a good thing. There were some differences in the fine details of what the term meant, but there was wide agreement with regards to the basics.
The adult was an individual judged fully capable of participating in society, society in this case referring to our republican democracy and the business, social, and legal structures it entailed. The adult could own property and act as his own agent in matters of contracts. She was given great authority to govern her own affairs, and those of her children. Likewise, she was responsible for her conduct, and that of her minor children. He was credited with being able to judge the risks inherent in action, and accepting the consequences, good and bad, of those actions. He was free to negotiate employment with a business of his choosing, including the salary clients he would accept, on a case-by-case basis without interference from the government or other third parties. She was granted deference under law as to the ability to determine the character of employees she would accept, and the conduct and image they would display on the job, because during that time they were representatives not of themselves, but of the business. If that didn't sit well with them, they had the right to quit or not take the job in the first place.
The adult was expected to exercise judgment, whether on the job, at home, or in public spaces. There were no "zero tolerance" policies. The adult in charge would examine the facts, and come to a decision. It might be right and it might be wrong, but it was their decision to make and their consequences to bear as long as they held the job. That was the point.
The adult parents were trusted to raise their own children until a substantial amount of evidence was given that they could not. In the spirit of community, others could, and often did, provide comment and feedback on those efforts, but it was still considered the responsibility of the parents. This included providing adequate food, shelter, instruction, and health care for themselves and those in their charge. Producing children that you could not or would not provide for was considered to be a great failure, both in terms of character and judgment.
The adult, having reached the age of majority, was responsible for their financial obligations. It was up to the adult to find a way to make it in the world. Family and friends, businesses and churches and charities could all be approached for assistance, but none of them were legally obligated or compelled to provide it. Not to an adult.
It was a much rougher world, no doubt about it. But there were payoffs. There were generations of people that were strong, resilient, faithful, secure in the knowledge that they would make it after the storm whether FEMA showed up or not, that they could and would feed their families with no public assistance check. By hard experience they learned what worked, what didn't, and what to avoid. And they passed that knowledge on to their children, who either took it or didn't, and then had their own consequences to deal with. They developed the confidence to succeed, and the ability to walk up to anyone and claim their rights face to face, no lawsuit required.
A lot of people ended up in bad situations. It was often regarded to be the consequence of poor decisions or character. Unsurprisingly, that was the case more often than not. The adult recognized that life was unfair, and that any system instituted by men was imperfect at best, hopelessly corrupt at worst, and whining about it did nothing to change either state. The adult was raised to know that the quickest fix to any problem they encountered started with them, not some politician or lawyer with little or no stake in the outcome, and no real idea of the problem. It was their job, their family, their life, and it was up to them to make it work. They were only "help" that they knew was coming. But the individual who had demonstrated character and maturity to her peers seldom stood alone at times of great need. They would find themselves surrounded by others willing to assist, people of strength and character, confidence and skill and understanding. These were other adults.
There was a time when it was feared that the introduction of too much work and discipline on our youth was a great danger, that taking them away from their chances to play and explore without the responsibilities of adulthood was cruel at the outset and destructive in the long term. I don't dispute the reasoning, just the execution. We have in many cases not only reduced the requirements for discipline, but abolished them. We have gone from forcing youth labor to making it all but impossible, and in doing so destroyed the opportunity for so many to gain confidence at a time it would greatly benefit them. And in the name of "safety," we continue to suppress discovery, activity, and responsibility.
Based on the results that I see, I do not think these efforts have given us a new generation happier or better adjusted to life than the ones that came before them. I see a generation largely untested, anxious of the challenges that lay ahead, with no measure of their ability to meet them. Their early lives are governed with little experience, instead shifting into an ever expanding list of rules, regulations, and policies that give the appearance of structure, but provide none of the support.
And society continues to expand these same methods beyond adolescence. No decisions are required. Just follow the book, and you are covered. You need not worry about your income, your retirement, your health care, or even having to make any important decisions in your day-to-day live. Those have all been made. All you have to do is go along, move from that safe little non-inquisitive child to a generic human instrument of a regulated society. You will never win, but you can't lose, at least not more than anyone else. Accept that as the important thing, and your satisfaction is guaranteed. A more few generations and, with luck, no one will remember it was ever any other way. Why would they?
There will be nothing worth remembering.
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