The 2002 movie Minority Report, based on Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story, posits a world where crime is punished before it is committed. Led by the visions of three precogs, authorities burst into homes, arresting people who - we are told - will commit a crime though they are (as yet) innocent of wrongdoing.
All hell breaks loose when one of these authorities discovers the system is flawed. The precogs sometimes disagree on future events, and in such cases, one vision is simply dismissed. The ‘Minority Report’ (of one) is ignored since it deviates from the overwhelming agreement of… um… the other two.
This plot is especially disturbing in light of the fallibility of the precogs. Essentially, a person’s natural rights are violated by the State because two out of three people think it is likely he will do something wrong. Which is insanity, and which is why my inspection sticker really ticks me off.
I was recently ordered to the side of the road by the insistent lights of a police cruiser behind me. The officer was very nice; he gave me a warning and sent me on my way. Call me an ingrate, but the stop still bothered me because the fact is I had complied with the law in every way but one: I hadn’t paid someone to attest, via sticker, my car’s virtue.
In a preemptive strike against potentially crappy cars, the State commands that each year we pay to have our auto verified road-worthy. Like a tribal bride being examined for purity, we display our vehicle to the authorities; flashing the brake lights, beeping the horn, and exhausting only the proper mix of waste. We receive our badge of innocence and stick it on the windshield proving that one day this year everything functioned.
This is an intensely personal regulation, categorically the same as laws requiring mechanics, beauticians, babysitters, and so on to be certified by government agencies. Such laws are immoral. They confiscate a portion of our property through fees or deprive us of our God-given liberty to contract. They hold our abilities hostage to arbitrary demands, saying, “You must pay us for this or you cannot do that.”
Kings once sold monopoly privileges to those merchants who could afford them, allowing the wealthy to virtually outlaw competition. At least those tyrants were honest enough to call a pig a pig. Today in the land of the free, our elected representatives create big business monopoly and destroy competition through licensing and certification and have the gall to claim it is for our own good. My inspection sticker or your EPA Certification, these special pieces of paper bearing the insignia of the State are no more than receipts that we have paid our extortionists.
Authorities cut off avenue after avenue of freedom, all in the name of protecting some from the malice or negligence of others. Liberty is violated and property confiscated for purely potential misdeeds that two out of three bureaucrats convince the people we are likely to commit in the absence of such oversight. “But,” you may say, “If you really believed two out of three precogs were correct and a crime would be committed, wouldn’t it be your duty to do something to stop it?” Of course. Warn the potential victim. Alert them to danger so they can protect themselves. Similarly, let people inform themselves of potential rip-offs or risks. Let them network. Let members of professional guilds voluntarily hold one another to standards. Let courts protect property by holding both the careless and rogues responsible to their victims when there actually are victims. Let government stop impoverishing those who could make a living fixing cars, painting nails, or opening a daycare, if only they had the wherewithal to navigate the regulatory labyrinth.
And finally, let the Minority Report be heeded: Not everyone is a crook, not everyone is a criminal, and not everyone is looking to rip someone off. People who defraud or harm others should be punished. The rest of us should be free.