Sooo...how do you like 2020 so far?
Okay, okay. I won't ask that question again.
Looking through recent American history, I see a time when onerous government restrictions tried to put a clamp on things.
Prohibition.
Can you guess why Prohibition ended?
It was because of the Black Market. Yep, government can maybe control things up to a certain extent. But if it tightens control too much, well, people create ways to get around it. And then government loses ALL control.
Prohibition was about making alcohol illegal. You see, there were control freak "Karens" back then also, who were always miserable and wanted to pass their misery to others.
Well, when any of these people get into power the devastation they bring with it. Look at Governors Murphy, Wittmer, Cuomo, Newsome, Brown, and others and you see the hell they have wrought to their states.
Back then, these people in government went farther...much farther. They actually made it an AMENDMENT to make alcohol illegal. That's a lot of Karen people in power!
But the people wanted to have fun anyway. So instead of legitimate bars that were regulated by the local governments, they went underground.
Speakeasys were the thing. In order to get into one you just needed to know the right people to get in. And everyone knew each other back then.
Alcohol was flowing quite freely during Prohibition, and now it was beyond the government's control. Oops.
Even government officials were underground at these speakeasys flouting their own rules!
So in order for the government to get back control, it had to make ANOTHER Amendment to void the first one.
Quite recently to, the failed War On Drugs is ending with legalization of pot and other drugs. Psilosybin and maybe even LSD could be legalized also, after having failed in stopping these drugs from getting to people.
---
What is interesting is that speakeasys might actually come back in the 2020's as well. Wow, exactly 100 years!
---
And now we have this, government shutting down businesses claiming a "deadly" virus that is 99.9% survivable. Yeah, somehow I placed "deadly" and "99.9% survivable" in the same sentence. It's 2020 after all, logic escaped us this year after all.
The Black Market will rise and counter this again. As I mentioned before, people are using the bars in their basements as an alternate setting for some socializing. If this continues, this will be the precursor to speakeasys.
---
And as for racing? We're set up nicely here also.
A lot of races have already started to set up the alternate "Fat Ass" format to races. You see, most organized races need a government permit to use their streets and parks for their courses.
Here's one such Fat Ass race. Do a search and you'll see a lot more.
So now that the local governments have ceased to issue permits to these races, well, it's quite easy to do one without permit and to conceal it somewhat.
Just like speakeasys, instead of public advertising, word gets out through private networking. Running clubs, teams, coaches, etc.
The races will be free to make sure it can be pinned as a "race", but donations would be accepted (and highly encouraged). Usually a Donations Jar will be placed either on the table or on top of a car or on a picnic bench. Runners just throw in how much money they feel the race is worth.
Most runners are generous also, so it works out.
And waves can be started with a small amount of runners instead of one big wave with a lot of runners. This way it looks less like a race and more like an informal group run.
---
You see, government WANTS to control everything, but, just like in the past, it's going to get its ass handed to them again, in spades! In trying to get control over all aspects of people's lives, they're going to lose control over EVERYTHING!
That's the Black Market in action. It stems from the yearning from each person to be FREE. It effectively counteracts government overreach.
And Black Markets always seem to prevail in the end.
---
I'll post more about Fat Ass racing on this blog very soon, because THIS will be the future of racing for now. So pay attention runners and lace up!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment