DARK mutterings at the Mahogany Ridge this week to the effect that government's totalitarian creep has now escalated into a frantic stampede of the sort typically associated with horses nearing a French or Belgian abattoir.
What spurred the spluttered indignation was the plan by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies for government to mind our own business and further infantilise the citizenry with mindless bureaucracy.
Opposition to the Licensing of Business Bill, gazetted last month for public comment which closed on Thursday, is widespread; detractors say it would make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to start businesses and would harm job creation.
True, there is the waffly effulgence of good intentions, of wanting to provide a national framework for processing business applications, and of building local government into "an efficient, frontline agency capable of integrating the activities of all spheres of government for the overall social and economic upliftment of communities".
Of particular concern, however, is that in terms of the proposals, not only will local and metropolitan municipalities now rule on the granting of business licences, but traffic policemen will be empowered to act as business inspectors, along with other authorities, with the power to monitor compliance and temporarily shut down trading and businesses.
There is clearly an increased risk of abuse. As economist Chris Becker pointed out to the DTI in a letter demanding that the bill be scrapped in its entirety: