First the psychics, then the churches...

by Wendy McElroy
Sep. 16, 2010

One of the stranger money grabs by a cash-strapped local government is going on in Warren, Michigan. Time (05/09) reports, "Starting this week, fortune tellers in Warren, Mich., must be fingerprinted and pay an annual fee of $150 - plus $10 for a police background check - to practice their craft."

Time goes on to identify the absurdity of such a license as well as the true underlying motives of imposing it:

Regulating an industry that deems itself clairvoyant, has no standard education requirements and yet rakes in cash for revealing spiritual truths may itself be an act of faith. It also might make good economic sense: about 1 in 7 Americans consulted a psychic or fortune teller in 2009, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That could be 30 million or more people.

Warren officials do not and will never 'fess up to the money motive but, instead, they justify their greedy little grab on the grounds of protecting the public from fraud...which I presume means only legitimate psychics and fortune tellers will be licensed. Odd concept....or concepts actually. #1. it is odd for government to legitimize fortune telling by authorizing/licensing it to make sure that only responsible psychics do business; Warren is regulating a hoax. #2. it is odd for government should protect gullible people from being separated from their money when that's what they want to occur. Government can't protect us from all evils. After all, if all that concerned Warren officials was keeping criminals out of the business in order to protect the public, they could simply impose the $10 fee for a police background check. Instead they imposed a licensing requirement that costs 15x the police check.

Of course, there is no concern whatsoever with whether a psychic is legitimate nor any way to measure that particular non-existent gift; like the mafia that offers 'protection', the town just wants its cut of a lucrative scam. In essence, Warren is saying "it's OK to scam people as long as we get a kick-back."

Whatever the concerns of Warren, however, there are several reasons for the public to perk up.

Quite apart from an indication of how far local governments are willing to go to skim off ever more money from residents, the licensing requirement is an attack upon the cottage industries -- the small home-based businesses -- that have become essential for the livelihood of an increasing number of people. What of those who teach yoga in their basements, do accounting on the side at tax time, tutor students, offer piano lessons or run a modest catering service out of their kitchens? With the recession deepening into depression and stretching into years, the people who are willing to work hard and think outside the box are the ones who will be targeted and punished by government for their initiative.

The ACLU has pointed to another concern. Michael Steinburg, of the Michigan branch of the ACLU, argues that the licensing law "makes it illegal to say incantations to give good luck without having a license." It makes unlicensed predictions illegal...except, of course, if you are a financial seer on Wall Street and bilk people of their life savings through your advice. If the track record of fortune tellers and financial advisors were to be compared over the past three years, who do you think would win?

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the licensing requirement is the door it opens for taxing religious belief. I speak as an atheist and a rationalist. But, for many people, contacting loved ones through a psychic or seeking the spiritual counsel of a fortune teller is just that....spiritual. Is the government next going to tell us who can speak "the word of God" on a street corner or presume to accept a stint at a pulpit? Should Sunday school teachers require a license and police background check? The mainstream religions should protest the licensing of psychics and fortune tellers because imposing taxes, fees and a slew of licensing requirements on Protestant and Catholic churches -- who take money every Sunday for spiritual counseling and the promise of eternal life -- would go a long way toward easing the deficit.

I am no fan of religion but people should be able to practice their own beliefs according to their own conscience without government regulating the peaceful expression of those beliefs.
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