Texas - Last Bastion of Freedom Giving in To Collectivist Malcontents

As Californians flood to Texas to escape the out-of-control taxes/regulations/government, they bring their stink with them!

They wander in here from Colorado too, and Florida, and New York, attracted by the free way of life lived for generations of Texans. And yet they bring their stink with them.

Just like the illegal aliens who flee poverty and a failed culture in their own land, and as soon as they get here they try to remake our land into what they left.

People that don't know how to be Texans come here and want to remake Texas like the state they left. Oh they preach against regulation and big government, but out of the other side of their face they want the regulations that helps them make up for their lack of ability to compete. They sell their bunk as protecting the innocent property owner, but nobody who is paying attention is buying.

A little regulation is necessary & healthy when dealing with the public. No offense, but in Colorado, whenever a hail storm comes through, there's a bit of cringing when the Texas outfits show-up.....They wreck the market for the natives so-to-speak.....They come with a whole different slant on business/employer ethics

I won't speak for Texas storm trooper roofers' ethics. Naturally most storm troopers have questionable ethics - simple math dictates that more of them come from Texas than from Arkansas or Oklahoma, etc.

That said, that "slant" that Texas come with is called and understanding of freedom. An understanding that government regulations can't nor should remove all risk to all people. Stupid people will always be separated from their money by crooked contractors.

In the same way that making guns illegal won't dissuade criminals from killing with guns, making 14,000 new regulations for roofers will not slow down the crooked roofers...it just hogties the honest ones.

Caveat Emptor.

In a "perfect world", (so-to-speak), I would wholeheartedly agree.

Problem is; People, (the sheeple = liberal ideology), will simply never leave their neighbors alone. So, we must have "laws", (so they feel).

Another problem is; These "laws" are rarely enforced as intended, thereby further emboldening the less-than-ethical types to prosper - and, in fact become acceptable behavior(s).

So what do the sheeple do?.......

Ready?...........

Why, pass more laws of course!

Looks like Ohio is about to pass the same travesty licensing garbage that I've disheartened to for so long.

It was pushed by the OhRCA, of which I'm a member, and for which I wholeheartedly disagree.

People think it will harness the out of staters and the jacks... Like Tim says, it will only harness the good one that don't need protection.

Mike,

State licensing can be a good thing, if it's truly enforced. I do speak from first hand experience.

California is a far friendly place to do business for the law-abiding types, whereas Colorado is a haven for the unscrupulous. Colorado is also a "buyer beware" environment, whereas a consumer in California is afforded some solice, in that a roofing company is generally a legit business that must adhere to certain minimum financial and business management abilities

I can understand and somewhat empathize, as It may not be so attractive to long-established businesses such as yourself.

Tom,

Actually, it's just the opposite, in my stance.

It's the established old-guard that is promoting this garbage. I am a free market, buyer beware, do your homework mentality, that believes anyone that want's to try their hand at the trade should be able to do so without intrusion from the government. I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit, and welcome the competition.

I cannot compete on price with the newbie. I will sell my company and my service and my history. If an upstart can convince a customer to part with their money over me, then kudo's to them. I hope it's successful for the customer, and if it's not, then I hope they got what they paid for.

What I don't want is the inept government handing the upstart a piece of paper that will read to the ignorant as "XYZ is just as qualified as HRI". That's BS, and an injustice to the consumer.

Clapping my hands gentlemen. I used to rant on this same subject till it almost killed me. Roofguy you seem extremely intelligent. Im very confident that if you continue on the track you are on you will find greater truths that will lead to a more peaceful understanding. I say confident but more like certain. These stages are not evidence of being lost but of being on the right track. In the end you will look back and laugh but at the same time be certain of how completely necessary each stage was. Just my 2 cents anyway. Respect

Mike h i am still in awe of what you just said!!!! Are you really an american roofing contractor? You sure thats not just a disguise?!?! Could it really be?!?! Lol major respect brother! Perfectly put.

TomB Said: Mike,

State licensing can be a good thing, if its truly enforced. I do speak from first hand experience.

California is a far friendly place to do business for the law-abiding types, whereas Colorado is a haven for the unscrupulous. Colorado is also a buyer beware environment, whereas a consumer in California is afforded some solice, in that a roofing company is generally a legit business that must adhere to certain minimum financial and business management abilities

I can understand and somewhat empathize, as It may not be so attractive to long-established businesses such as yourself.

Tom, your own words make my point. Colorado is a "haven for the unscrupulous" and yet it has far more regulations on roofing than Texas.

This thing is far more complicated than merely inviting government into our lives and wallets and hope they will run it better than they do their other entities. As an example: Perhaps you should consider that the Front Range of Colorado (Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver) is and has been for decades the #1 region for hailstorms in the U.S. Don't you think that has something to do with the fly-by-night? It does! They go where the work is.

I would imagine that Oklahoma City has a lot more regulations on roofers than 15 years ago - OKC has had a half dozen monster hailstorms in recent years. New regulations that follow are knee-jerk reactions by government workers who don't understand the problem. Those new regulations are pushed by local roofers who may understand the problem, but want regulations to help them protect their rice bowl because it's easier than educating their customers and selling.

These laws/statutes start out with good intentions but always end up harming the people they were intended to help. Let the market sort it out.

Mike H Said: Tom,

Actually, its just the opposite, in my stance.

Its the established old-guard that is promoting this garbage. I am a free market, buyer beware, do your homework mentality, that believes anyone that wants to try their hand at the trade should be able to do so without intrusion from the government. I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit, and welcome the competition.

I cannot compete on price with the newbie. I will sell my company and my service and my history. If an upstart can convince a customer to part with their money over me, then kudos to them. I hope its successful for the customer, and if its not, then I hope they got what they paid for.

What I dont want is the inept government handing the upstart a piece of paper that will read to the ignorant as XYZ is just as qualified as HRI. Thats BS, and an injustice to the consumer.

Well said.

The people who built this great nation weren't afraid of competing.

To be clear about what i mean by continuing on that path i mean....

You got to this point by objectively challenging the status quo, laying down all preconceived notions and searching for objective truth. Youve asked yourself at some point, "what if the opposite of what i know is true"? I say continue that eternally. This means these new understandings as well. Fear not that you will flop back and forth. With this approach real truths will stick and the picture will become more clear. If one never gives what one believes to be evil or wrong a chance to be opposite, one can never believe they are standing on a rock and the fullness of the power obtained by truly becoming can never be realized.

The have nots cannot possibly comprehend what it is to have but the haves have also the power of knowing both. How could the perspective of the one who only knows half be greater than that of the one who has experienced the whole of the two? Is it possible this is how we collectively come to the same conclusions that those above us are conspiring against us? Never stop reaching for the light. As we climb we find groups. The higher we climb the smaller the groups get. Never believe its time to stop climbing. Approach the source of our own intuition where we find no man.

I think it's a mindset. American history is rife with innovators, free thinkers, those who are not good followers.

I'm not interested in proclaiming that I know the best way for everyone, any more than I want others telling me the best way for me. I'm the guy whose dang neck is on the line on a 15 year roofs warranty; I want to be the one who decides the best way to make the roof accomplish that.

More importantly, I don't need some building inspector, who was a framing contractor and failed, telling me how to put my dang roof on. Make sure I'm not endangering the public in what I do, then get the heck out of my way.

Tom, it's been 40 years since I worked in Colorado, but back then it was the most onerous government intrusive place I have ever encountered. Sure there was no state license, but that was more than offset by the fact every town dinged you for their own license. Denver required you to have an employee that could pass their "roofer test" before you could get a permit.

Although Oregon, with its own "continuing education" requirements may now surpass Colorado on the onerous government scale.

All I can muster is - naivety is bliss.....

Seriously though, there are so many dynamics at play, none of it is really worth any hand-wringing. It's going to be - what it's going to be, in any particular locale'. People just have to make there way in whatever social/gov't obstacles placed in their path.

wywoody - Yes , your absolutely correct! That makes my point of sorts; There is a state w/o contractor licensing, yet can be/is a general flustercuck, (to steal Mike's phrase); Far more complicated/corrupted than my experiences in Ca.

When I 1st moved to COLO. in 92', my barber had said, "Denvers' a dirty city".....He wasn't referring to the air quality.....And, he was right!

Freedom is a hard concept for many Americans to grasp. It has been bred out of us over time. We have been feeding at the government trough for so long that we've become addicted to regulatory help and are not self-reliant as a people any more.

For some, if there is a doubt about the right decision to make, their default reaction is to ask government to create a new law/statute to address it. For others their default reaction is to keep government out of it and find a solution themselves.

I just wish they'd stay away from Texas where we're still a little free.

Freedom is all relative. Take our neighbors to the south; They can do pretty-much anything entrepreneurial - anything goes, so-to-speak.

Years ago, my brother actually assisted with building a home for one of our employees down there. What a fricken mess! Everyone - I mean EVERYONE is an entrepreneur. It's a sort of inherent-cultural phenomenon. Unbridled regulation -

"Free for all to do as they please"! What a great concept - Not such a great outcome, or livelhood experience - That's what you get with true - absolute freedom.