So, maybe the building inspectors across the country are friendly people with abundant common sense. That’s not the case in my experience in the two counties I’ve worked in. They are individuals on a major power trip with arbitrary and shifting standards who feel no need to do anything that actually makes sense.

Currently I’m trying to sell a house where the attached garage was converted into living space a long time ago–there is reason to believe it was 1972, but no one knows for sure. In any case, it was long before I bought the house, and Ray Charles could see that. The buyer’s appraiser said the square footage doesn’t match the county’s records. That is, when they finished the garage, they didn’t get a building permit.

So, now to sell the house to this guy, I have to jump though government hoops. I went to Caesar’s mini-tyranny office this morning and the government leeches there didn’t know what to do and I asked if maybe they could just write a letter saying there is no procedure for inspecting 40 year old work. They refused to make a decision and said call the main tyrant who would be in this afternoon.

I called him and this is an individual who’s probably never worked a real day’s work in his life. He told me He’s going to assume I did the work and he’s going to expect it to be up to today’s building code. I asked if all the drywall is going to have to be ripped off so he can see the wires and insulation. He said hopefully he can see enough just by opening the electrical boxes, but it’s possible the drywall will have to be removed.

Not only that, but I can’t get a permit as a homeowner, because I don’t live there. All the work is done, but I have to get someone who has run the tyranny gauntlet and has become a licensed contractor to get a permit.

I’ll tell you right now, there is zero chance that I’m letting a government agent on a power trip in that house. Nothing good will come from a government agent poking around my property. Ronald Reagan says it best:

The Bible makes no room for the government to enforce building codes. This could all be done privately. It is already done privately with Underwriter’s Lab inspecting a lot of the stuff we buy. But as it is the government has to give me a permit so I can sell to someone getting a government-backed loan and the government gets to tax every step along the way. We live in a wicked society that thinks that if there is enough government control, nothing bad will ever happen again.

Those who give up their freedom to gain security are worthy of neither.