[mindslight]

Why were you shocked - had you just moved to MA?

One town I was in won't pick up your garbage unless your recycling bin is out as well. No concept that someone could produce so little trash and would rather the quarter-full recycling sit the rare occasion they put out a trash bag. And of course it precludes taking the emptied bin in before the second truck comes around. And FSM help you if the guy decides to search in your bag and declares your trash demolition or construction material.

They of course had color coded water restrictions posted everywhere busybodies frequented - elementary schools etc. And I can't not mention the legislature-dictated seat belt law.

But my quarrel is that the nanny state is a symptom of how broken and autonomous our "representational" system is. One shouldn't have to give up civilization to get away from the busybodies, and escaping to NH is just a pressure relief valve. While the people doing it feel freer, this couldn't be further from reality - the ridiculousness has only become distant because other people are more distant. All types of militarized law enforcement may still freely kill them or their dogs while pretending to be heroes. Their communications are still stored indefinitely and mined for thoughtcrime. They're still prohibited from ingesting whatever chemicals they'd like. And they're still working over a quarter of the year to support these hostilities against them. But since they have an illusion of freedom they're likely to stop criticizing the entirety of the nanny state, focus on aspects they identify with, and flip to supporting it.