Courts Against Liberty

From the current news:

A 13-year-old girl who hopes to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has had her record attempt blocked by a Dutch court.

The most scary part is this tho:

Laura Dekker will be placed under the care of social services for two months and a child psychologist will assess whether she is ready to undertake the risky voyage.

Now, I happen to think that not 14 yet is indeed a too young age for sailing solo around the world* (solo except radio, phone, internet and the like of course), but her parents should make the decision; that ought to be their right and duty. Certainly not business of a court, an emanation of the government.

The more the government and their emantions can interfere with our lives, the less free we are. It does not matter if it is For Our Own Safety or anything else; it is a reduction of liberty.

I am reading just in these days the tales of the far north by Jack London, and I smile grimly thinking that such adventures would be impossible today - at the very least, illegal in a thousand of different ways from child protection violations to health & safety issues. And so merrily we go down the slippery slope to enslavement.

* On the other hand, many years ago a young Mongol of about that age murdered his half-brother so that he could become head of the family. Later, that man became known to the world as Genghis Khan.