Making life miserable one regulation at a time

I live in a county area, away from the regulatory influence of the nearest city.  Last election they tried to incorporate us and were resoundingly voted down.  I like it this way.  I deal with enough bureaucrats poking their noses into my work life, I'm grateful not to have to deal with it at home as much as city and town dwellers.

That said, just when did government get to be so intrusive?  Years ago my BIL was mayor of the town he and my sis live in and at that time he and several council members were able to keep another council member from intruding on private business when, during a review of a planned condo development, she wanted to tell them they would have to pick a different color for the window awnings as their choice didn't go with those of the building already in place next door.  Where did all of the people with restraint go?  Why have these monsters been allowed to go unchecked for so long?

While I don't like having the druggie and the girlfriend he picked up in jail living down the street in his dad's rent house, I would like even less having some bureaucrat telling him he couldn't, because then those overreaching bureaucrats might get the notion they could tell me how to live.  At least this way, when the other neighbors and I decide we dislike enough the problems caused by this resident, we just fix them.  (Notice I no longer complain about him or his friends speeding down our one car wide street.)  No bureaucracy needed or wanted. 

Exactly when did things get so overwhelmingly regulated that a man who wants to build a tree house for his kids has to go through this?   And why the hell did the residents of his area let it happen?  Did I mention that my neighbors and I resoundingly voted against all of the possible benefits of incorporation in order to retain the small illusion of freedom we still have?  I'd do it again and so would the rest.  I guess we're lucky that it happened in so many other places first that we had time to wake up before it got to us.  We had the chance to see that the pros don't outweigh the cons.  And the sense to keep an eye on what they have in the works.