"safety" & coercive control by the state over citizens

The Pandemic Era of 2021 is still fresh in Western minds, countries struggling for democracy &/or basic food & health provisions are probably into a new disaster. 

Anyway in recent months we've heard confirmations & received apologies from Flakey Politicians for overriding peoples' personal freedoms during pandemic. So all those lockdowns, mandatory testing & vaccinations were too onerous. Sorry they say, but don't commit to law, limiting the state's powers to direct citizens to remain at home, wear masks or undergo invasive testing. They won't limit the state's authority to force business closures, detain or force travellers into rental accommodation. Nor will they commit to destroy the genetic database they have created as a result of mandatory testing. So, my point is, the state can get away with scaling up social control however of sees fit. Others have noted that these efforts are usually made just before close of business on public holidays & times of "crisis". They are never fully repealed. 

There was, many years ago, an interesting case relating to ocean crossing on tiny boats. The US Coast Guard set to stop Hugo Vihlen from attempting to leave USA aboard his nearly 6 feet long boat. Various officers, vessels & aircraft were dispatched in order to shut him down. This occurred after a campaign by mail threatening to fine Mr Vihlen $10 000 (this was many decades ago) if he even attempted to sail. They claimed two things; that Hugo's previous attempt had "failed", & that his vessel was "manifestly unsafe". 

From Hugo's perspective (ie: the truth), on his previous attempt, he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean & had been nearing land when he encountered various local boats & had asked them to report his location. The purpose of reporting in was to have his family made aware he had succeeded. The Coast Guard began searching & when he was slow to show, due to his vessel's short waterline, proclaimed him "Missing at Sea". This manufactured crisis allows the state to enact powers to override private interests. They located Hugo's little boat, advised h he had been declared missing & forcibly towed him ashore. This, authorities decreed, was a "failed Atlantic Crossing". 

On the second point, the boat being declared " Manifestly Unsafe", Hugo had designed the boat & had it professionally made. To prove the point, he sailed it across the Atlantic Ocean. (To evade the USCG's many attempts to thwart his efforts to leave US waters, Hugo left from Canada.)

So here is an example of the state's efforts to crush personal freedom in a most deceptove manner, all the while manipulating the facts & attempting to control news as it disseminated to the public. 

Here is Hugo's second boat, photographed as it stands to this day in a US museum. Still with us at age 93_years old, Hugo has held the record for the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic, for over sixty years. His little boat was named "April Fool". 

  Hugo Siegfried Vihlen, you are a true sailor, tough bugger & deserved record holder. 

And here is one of Hugo's books which I ordered from the USA. It is a wonder that the ChineseX ah US government has not tried to ban publication of this book due to its subversive message about the right to personal freedom & sailing your own little boat how you see fit.