"Guilty until proven innocent" reared its ugly head once again with the news of Wal-Mart establishing a new policy of videotaping all firearms purchases, at the insistent prodding of New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg's personal crusade front, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Most disturbing is how Wal-Mart seemingly caved so easily to the Mayors' Cabal. But here's a question: Why is it Wal-Mart's, or any other store's responsibility for what people do with a product they sell? Following that logic, shouldn't Wal-Mart should be videotaping all sales in every department? After all, somebody could leave a bottle of Drano in an unsecured kitchen cabinet where a child could get a hold of it. A can of spray paint could be left carelessly on a garage shelf where it could find its way into the hands of a kid who wants a quick, cheap high. A tube of mascara could become a dagger in the eye of a newly-licensed teenage girl attempting to plump up her lashes while driving to class.

And do you think Mayor Bloomberg made note of the array of high-fat, high-calorie bagged and boxed edibles on Wal-Mart's shelves? The war on trans-fats is another one of his pet projects, hot on the heels of the city-wide smoking ban he couldn't wait to push into law during his first term.

It used to be that we elected a politician to serve as our representative - our voice in the government. We talked; they listened, learned, and empathized. But the idea of promoting the general welfare has been seized upon and abused by opportunistic men and women who live their lives in ivory towers, insulated from everything but their yes-men, their security guards, and an overdeveloped sense of omniscience. They no longer work for us; they work in spite of us, for their own gain and glory. And with each new expedition in search of the elusive Utopia, freedom suffers what the rest of us can only hope isn't an irretrievable loss.