Under feudalism most people are serfs, legally bound to a certain piece of land and barred from leaving it without the permission of their lords. Serfdom as such was abolished centuries ago in the West, but in recent years governments have increasingly attempted to bring back the idea that citizens are (at least in some ways) owned by the governments under which they live, and therefore subject to the diktats of their owners even if they travel to places with different laws. And I don’t mean only totalitarian states; the governments I speak of are modern Western ones. Swedish politicians have made several attempts to criminalize their subjects who pay for sex in countries where it’s legal, despite objections from saner politicians that it would set a dangerous precedent for people who have homosexual relations or abortions in Sweden when those things are criminalized in their own countries. Some countries criminalize parents who seek surrogacy arrangements overseas, and of course many tax jurisdictions (including the US) try to rob citizens blind if they have the temerity to move elsewhere. And now American states which more aggressively claim ownership over their residents are also attempting to prevent their circumventing that control:
…a prominent antiabortion [politician] in Missouri, from where thousands of residents have traveled to next-door Illinois to receive abortions since Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in 2019, [now wants to]…allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy [pioneered by]…Texas…the measure is [clearly] unconstitutional because it would effectively allow states to enact laws beyond their jurisdictions, but…Coleman…also w[ants to criminalize the]…possess[ion of]…abortion pills in Missouri…If enacted, the measure almost certainly would face a swift legal challenge…
And Missouri isn’t the only state to imitate Texan tyranny:
The Idaho House of Representatives…passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming health care for their transgender child…and…A parent or guardian would also be guilty of a felony if they travel with their child to another state for the purpose of obtaining gender-affirming health care…the Idaho proposal…is not unlike laws from a prior generation, including the criminalization of interracial couples traveling to another state to get married…which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. People already take trips to other states to do things that are legal that they can’t do where they live — from consuming cannabis, gambling or buying fireworks to obtaining an abortion — and there’s little states can do to stop that because of constitutional limits on restricting interstate travel…
It’s not coincidental that laws which attempt to reduce people to a kind of serfdom all revolve around things they might do with their genitalia; Americans have long been obsessed with what other people have between their legs, and what they do with that equipment, so naturally attempts to abrogate human rights often start thus because too many of their countrymen have similar views, and most of those who don’t are too ashamed to defend these rights (which is why so many who do defend them couch them in neutered euphemisms like “love”). But make no mistake: if these abominations are allowed to stand, the precedent will quickly be extended to other rights that control freaks hate, just as Texas’ abortion law has already inspired gun-grabbers to attempt similar tactics. And if you think the current police state is bad, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
