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We often point to the United Kingdom as an example of state control with no concern for individual freedom, but our neighbors across the Atlantic are beginning to tire of the nanny state, which is now flourishing here in America.

“The state now performs so many tasks for us that it will be difficult to cope without it,” London’s Daily Telegraph reports.

“Before the First World War, as A J P Taylor observed, ‘a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the State, beyond the post office and the policeman.’  Now it intrudes into every aspect of our lives, often with benign intent but not always to our benefit.”

The Telegraph goes on to provide examples of creeping government intrusion into private lives and choices, even though the Internet and social networks have given rise to greater freedom of thought and less tolerance for poor service.

“The time has come for it to stop trying to run our lives from the cradle to the grave. The trouble is that we may have turned into a country that feels more comfortable being looked after than looking after itself.”

If you think creeping state power into the most mundane details of your life is solely a European phenomenon, take a look at what happened in Minnesota after the governor’s failure to pass a budget led to a government shutdown.

“Bars and restaurants with no booze; stores with no cigarettes: that’s the picture coming into focus in Minnesota, as the effects of the state’s government shutdown ripple through society. The reasons range from expired liquor permits (which can’t be renewed) to a lack of cigarette tax stamps (which can’t be purchased),” National Public Radio reports. “With the sale of alcohol and tobacco closely regulated and taxed, stores are quickly running through their supplies, and they’re asking for special dispensations that would help them serve their customers.”

Even beer already on the shelves must be pulled because of government intrusion.  “MillerCoors LLC must pull 39 brands of beer from Minnesota bars, restaurants and stores because it failed to renew brand-label registrations before the state government shut down July 1,” Bloomberg reports.

“The registration, which must be renewed every three years with a $30 fee per brand, is required for the manufacturing, distribution or sale of alcohol, said Doug Neville, a spokesman for the Minnesota Public Safety Department.  The state has contacted the company seeking a plan for how it will remove the beer from the state and wants that to happen ‘within days,’ Neville said in a telephone interview from St. Paul.”

You can’t buy beer or cigarettes in Minnesota unless the government has cash?  The Telegraph is right.  The time has come for it to stop trying to run our lives from the cradle to the grave.

As Minnesota’s state failure shows, Republicans and Democrats can’t get it done.  It’s time to vote Libertarian.