Tonight's "Give Me A Break" is about dumb laws.

ABC News e-mail update | 06/21/2002 | John Stossel

[sheltonmac]

Think government must run your life because you have no common sense? Apparently many of our legislators think that.

Better not throw a snowball in Belton, Mo., -- that's illegal there. Don't fly a kite in Schaumburg, Ill.; kite flying is illegal there. Oregon and New Jersey forbid you to pump your own gas.

In Kern County, Calif., it's illegal to play Bingo while drunk. In Illinois you may not hunt bullfrogs with a firearm. And if you go to El Paso, Texas, better not sell any ice from out of town. That's illegal.

I know about these laws because two high school students from Columbus, Ga., spent four years compiling a list of dumb laws for their Web site, and now they've published a book about them.

One of the book's co-authors, Andy Powell, says he thinks lawmakers "think they're protecting us, but they're really just getting too much into the business of the American public and regulating common sense."

The real outrage here is that the politicians waste their time and our money legislating the smallest details of our lives.

Why do they pass these dumb laws? Politicians we asked said they were "worried about our safety." For example, the busybodies in Oregon and New Jersey say pumping your own gas is "too dangerous!" "A fire hazard." They convinced their fellow legislators, even though we, in 48 other states, manage to pump our own gas without blowing ourselves up. At the rate they're passing laws, we'll soon be a nation of shut-ins.

Why can't they just govern the way the founders intended -- guaranteeing, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but otherwise leaving us alone?

To all these politicians, over-involving themselves in our lives, I say, "Give me a break."

[sheltonmac]

Tonight on 20/20....

[College Repub]

Yeah but the tax is very little (if non existant) in NJ on gas. Although it is quite a sad sight to see freshmen from NJ come to my college and have a bewildered look on their face when it comes time to pump gas for themselves for the first time. Many have no idea how to do it.

[martin_fierro]

dumblaws.com

[evolved_rage]

I wonder if they mention the 50,000+ Excecutive orders passed by x42???

[Corporate Law]

Maybe if Stossel is doing the report.

[RichardsSweetRose]

Why can't they just govern the way the founders intended -- guaranteeing, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," but otherwise leaving us alone? To all these politicians, over-involving themselves in our lives, I say, "Give me a break."

Now that would be novel, but instead the politicians are trying to break our chops, and keep themselves in business by making all these dumb laws.

[Phantom Lord]

Want to see some dumb laws in your state? Click Here

[Mr. Bird]

." For example, the busybodies in Oregon and New Jersey say pumping your own gas is "too dangerous!" "A fire hazard."

That's because it would be gauche to state the truth: it's protecting obsolete jobs.

I wonder if the kids included tax laws and gun laws in their book. Oh, silly me, if they had, it wouldn't be on ABC.

[Phantom Lord]

It is illegal to give or receive oral sex in SF.

Has to be the least enforced law in America.

[vin-one]

cool link, bump for later reading and site as well.
now if we could just get rid of some of the dumb Politicos

[goodieD]

John Stossel, a the lone voice of reason in the leftist wilderness that is network television.

[steve50]

I see I can no longer get my fish drunk.
Help. I'm being repressed

[Britton J Wingfield]

That was illegal in AZ until last year. The debate on the floor was pretty amusing.

[elbucko]

"Few men of first class ability can afford to let their affairs go to ruin while they
fool away their time in Legislatures. . . . But your chattering, one-horse village
lawyer likes it, and your solemn ass from the cow countries, who don't know the
Constitution from the Lord's Prayer, enjoys it, and these you always find in the
Assembly.".................... .....Mark Twain.

[Concerto in D]

Just made a run from Washington State to Michigan, via Colorado. I got the giggles in Oregon as I read the sign: Do not pass snowplows on the right.

Okie dokie--I won't.

[alpowolf]

That sums it up in a nutshell. This wouldn't be acceptable even if these politicians were wiser than us common folk. It's surely not acceptable given that politicians are inferior to navel lint. They are sure as hell not our "best and brightest".

I wish all the big government fans (right and left alike) would think about this before advocating increased government power. These idiots can't run their own lives--why should they run yours?

[DaveCooper]

John Stossel, a the lone voice of reason in the leftist wilderness that is network television.

Which is probably why the ironically-named left-wing organization FAIR hates him with a passion.

[ravingnutter]

Texas: It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.

Whoops...I am *really* in trouble, LOL!

[Zon]

Thanks for the "heads up".

"I like John Stossel. He takes the Socratic question route a long way while applying Aristotelian universal law.