Estimated Time to Read: 2 minutes
In a free society, liberty is the default. Government bears the burden of justification when it restricts peaceful conduct. Yet modern governance increasingly operates on the opposite assumption. Citizens are treated as regulated subjects first and free individuals second. The question Texas must confront is simple: are we presumed free, or presumed guilty until compliant?
Texas Policy Research (TPR) identifies individual liberty as a core principle of sound government. That principle rests on an older truth. Free people do not need permission to live, work, speak, or exchange unless their actions cause real harm. When the state flips that presumption by requiring licenses, permits, fees, or approvals before activity is allowed, liberty quietly gives way to control.
This shift rarely occurs through dramatic legislation. Instead, it advances incrementally through administrative rules and enforcement regimes that punish paperwork failures more harshly than actual misconduct. Texans increasingly face penalties not for harming others, but for failing to satisfy bureaucratic prerequisites.
Consider the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Created to ensure basic standards, TDLR now oversees dozens of occupations, many involving little to no public safety risk. Entrepreneurs must seek state approval before engaging in a myriad of services, with no safety risks, often incurring significant costs before earning a single dollar. The presumption is not competence, but suspicion. Permission precedes productivity.
The Founders warned against this posture. James Madison argued that liberty depends on clear laws applied equally, not discretionary authority exercised by officials. When freedom hinges on approval rather than right, accountability dissolves.
Natural rights existed prior to government. Frederic Bastiat cautioned that when law moves from preventing injustice to managing behavior, it ceases to be a shield and becomes a weapon.
Texas prides itself on independence, yet, as one of the most regulated states, its regulatory posture increasingly mirrors states that presume control rather than freedom. Small businesses must prove worthiness before opening their doors. Property owners must justify ordinary use. Citizens must demonstrate compliance before exercising activities once assumed lawful.
A free state should not operate this way. Liberty means individuals are free until they violate the law and not constrained unless they satisfy regulators. Enforcement should address real harm, not hypothetical risk. Presuming liberty is not radical. It is constitutional. And once freedom requires permission, it exists in name only.
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