These days, you need permission from the government to do just about anything, including feeding yourself or others.

Do you own a car? Every year, you must go down to the DMV and pay the government for permission to drive it.

Do you own a business? You must register it and pay an annual fee to operate it.

Do you want to renovate your home? You must pay the government to come and tell you if you're allowed to, how you are allowed to, and to check it afterward to make sure you complied with all of their rules.

Do you want to swap your homemade goodies for someone else's homemade goodies? You're supposed to get permission from the government to do it, and they'd also like you to pay them taxes on the transaction.

Do you want to educate your children at home? In some states, you have to pay for permission to do that. You still have to pay taxes to support your local school, mind you, but you'll need a "permit" on top of it.

Do you want to hunt or fish to supplement your food budget? You're supposed to go get a license to do that, too.

Do you want to go off the grid? If you're even allowed to, you'll have to get a permit and an inspection.

The government is aware of their own pending obsolescence and that's why they're so desperate to regulate every darned thing. Oh – and the money – they make a ton of money from forcing you to purchase permission to live your life.

Every time someone pops up and does something independently, the government says, "Oh, no. All things must come from us, your benefactors."

The government is obsolete.

By mandating helplessness, the government seems to want to instill in us a belief that we can't get by without them. Why?

Because they're quickly becoming obsolete.

People are weary of the countless laws, so numerous that we all break them every time we set foot outside our doors. The most innocuous things have come under fire as people struggle to survive and dare to do so independently:

Artisanal soap makers who use luscious ingredients like goat's milk, cocoa butter, and essential oils are being regulated out of business by Congress. (source)

The FDA has declared hand-sewn menstrual cloths to be "medical devices" and subject to $4000 per year in fees, putting another cottage industry out of business. (source)

People are charged as criminals and fined for growing food in their own yards because *gasp* people can see vegetables instead of grass. (source)

During the terrible flooding in Louisiana earlier this year, when the government rescue operation was slow to respond, a bunch of local outdoorsmen began to save their neighbors from the rising waters. The government demanded they get permits to save their neighbors and blockaded the area with police barriers. That's right – they used their resources to stop the rescues instead of using their resources to perform rescues. (source)

A lady in the Philadelphia area faced a fine of $600 per day for feeding hungry kids (that usually depend on low-cost or free lunches at school) lunch during the summer. If she didn't want to pay a fine, she had to pay a fee of $1000 and be subject to government inspections and regulations. (source)

A woman in California faces jail time for making homemade ceviche and selling it through a Facebook group. They actually used law enforcement resources to go to her house undercover and buy her soup and arrest her. (source)

Give me a break. There is one thing at play here.

Control.

Take feeding the homeless, for example.