Much like an addict addicted to crack, Lansing's desire to license and regulate everything it sees had gone into overdrive during the past several years.
Do you think that the barber licensing is a joke?
Check this out.
Some time ago when I actually had some free time I'd pick up some McDonald's money by training people to operate heavy equipment (mostly semis).
Getting the certification just to do that is a royal pain.
First off, I needed to go through a background check and medical exam as part of the application process.
No, the background check that I had aced to get my HazMat wasn't good enough for the Lansing. I had to spend more of my own money to get a brand spanking new background check done through a different agency.
To make matters worse, when I renewed my certification, I needed to show up to the same company in person to submit a fingerprint sample. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but fingerprints don't change over someone's lifetime. But why should Lansing care? It's a great cash cow for the state!
But wait, it gets better. My valid DOT card wasn't good enough for the state either. They wanted more forms for a doctor to fill out covering the same information my DOT card does.
Go figure.
But as they say on TV: "Wait! There's more."
After doing that for some time, knowing what I did on the side, I had some friends and neighbors come up and ask me if I could teach their kids what they needed to know to get their Driver's License. After going over the manual for that, I told them I would do it for them (surprising, aside from a few minor differences there really isn't very much different between what they needed to know to drive a car and a truck). About a month later after commandeering an abandoned school parking lot, they demonstrated that they were ready and I told them to go in for their road test.
EVERY ONE OF THEM I instructed had aced their road test.
Now, here's the kicker!
What my friends didn't mention before coming to me was that they had gone through a state-certified driving school. Not only did they do a piss-poor job of instructing them over three months on what they needed to know, but they wanted to hit them up for more $$$ so that they could try again for their license.
I figured that I was in the wrong line of work, so I wanted to add auto to my certification.
To do that (especially for teens), I needed even more background checks and to spend over $3,000 to "learn" how to teach people how to drive in the classroom, yard and on the road.
I'm certain that there are other examples of Lansing shaking down and making things generally harder for the producing-class to get ahead. Almost sounds like an Ayn Rand novel, doesn't it?
I just don't see very many republicans with the integrity to step up and do something about it.
Their urge to license and regulate is just as strong with them, as it is with the democrats.
Sad, isn't it?
