Now one month shy of 63 years on this earth and as a citizen of the United States, I am proud of following the laws of this country, and of carrying my weight through paying – since the age of 16 – a small fortune in taxes.  I have taken not one penny in government assistance, even during the years when I struggled financially.  For many years I have tithed to a variety of wonderful charities – a tenth or more of my gross income that, had I chosen a more selfish path, could probably have made retirement available to me by now.  Never having put a child through schools, I have nonetheless paid for many other people’s children to do so.

 I do not plan to change.  God willing, I will be able to make the same claim with my last breath.

 That said, some impositions of the various layers of the ruling state are sticking in my craw.  And some, I have decided after serious reasoning, I will no longer obey.  Some are not worthy of being obeyed.  Among those are the insignificant.  For example, the city where I have lived for 24 years permits residents to own no more than six pets.  I now have ten permanent cats, and three temporary kittens that I have bottle fed for the last 2.5 weeks.  I don’t just disregard this law, I choose to deliberately and public flaunt it.  I recognize no government’s authority or expertise in determining how many animals I may care for.  I am more than capable of caring for all my cats, and from keeping them from being public nuisances.

 Another law which I plan to soon break is the prohibition against distilling spirits for personal use.  The federal government has a law against this.  In their fealty to big-money distillers, they allow exceptions through expensive and time-consuming licensing.

 I take pleasure in doing things for myself.  And I take pleasure in good whiskey, which is not cheap.  So I’ve decided to make my own.  I do not want to sell it or give it to others.  The risks are small and easily avoided – and anyway, I don’t need any government to safeguard me from life’s risks.

 So I am studying the art of distilling whiskey, and will buy the still and other materials soon.  I look forward to that satisfaction.  The government – and Facebook, which apparently banned a post I made on this subject – may go jump in the nearest lake.