Posted on 01/27/2003 12:21:52 PM PST by shortstop
What do you think of seatbelt laws?
Are they a good idea, or a bad idea?
You know the ones I mean. They vary from state to state, but they’re basically alike. If you’re driving a car, and you don’t have a seat belt on, you can get a ticket.
Sometimes it’s just the driver, sometimes it’s everyone in the car.
You’ve heard the sob stories. They roll out some state trooper, or a paramedic, and have him tell you a heartbreaking story about how many accident scenes he’s been to, and how it breaks his heart to see the carnage, and how seatbelts are the only hope we have.
And we see how much the state loves us, passing laws to protect us, shielding us from our own stupidity.
And we’re grateful.
We see seatbelt laws as a sign of social progress, as proof we’re an enlightened society.
But are we right?
Are seatbelt laws a good idea?
The answer to that, surprisingly, has nothing to do with seatbelts.
Because there’s no question about that. If you don’t use a seatbelt, you are an idiot. The benefit and protection that come from seatbelts cannot be denied.
Buckle your seatbelt. Don’t start the car until you have, and until everyone else has as well.
But that’s not the point.
Seatbelt laws aren’t about seatbelts, they are about freedom. And the role of government.
The question isn’t, “Should you wear a seatbelt?” It is, “Can government force you to wear a seatbelt?’
And, in spite of what the state legislatures have done, the answer to the second question, in America, is clear. The answer is, “No.”
We are a free people. Our government, as envisioned in our founding documents, is small and weak. It is not meant to make every decision or to legislate in every area. It is not meant to run our lives.
And yet we have come to let it.
Piece by piece, inch by inch, American freedom has dwindled and dwindled.
We are the victims of tyranny in the name of compassion.
Slavery in the guise of protection.
Each benefit of government has come at the cost of a corresponding liberty.
We are safer, but we are less free.
And we have been robbed.
Because freedom is better than safety. Liberty more important than life, and self-reliance of greater worth than governmental paternalism.
We are a nation built on the belief that all power resides with the people. Government can only exercise the power it has been granted by the people. In America, the power of government was meant to be severely limited. In America, the government is to be the servant, not the master. In America, people are believed to be the best off when they are the most free, when they run their own lives and make their own decisions.
But our government treats us like children. It takes our liberty from us with hardly a second thought. It expands its power over us without restraint. It mandates by force of law in matters that are and should be entirely personal and private.
Like seatbelts.
Sure, the government says it is acting for our best good.
But, shouldn’t we decide as free individuals what is in our best good?
Doesn’t government’s desire to protect us from harm unavoidably separate us from God-given liberty?
Of course it does.
And yet we have taken it like sheep.
We have thanked and re-elected those legislators who have orchestrated our bondage. We have cooperated with the squandering of our national birthright. What others fought and died for, we have flushed down the toilet. Because we haven’t been smart enough to remember what this country is all about.
Freedom.
And every policy or decision of the government must pass a simple test: Does it diminish our individual liberty?
If it does, it must not be allowed. If it does, it is inherently unconstitutional. If it does, it is dangerously and unacceptably un-American.
We must be able to distinguish between what counts and what does not. We must not be confused by irrelevance. Like those sob stories the cops and insurance people tell about seatbelts.
They are beside the point.
Seatbelt laws aren’t about seatbelts.
They are about law, and the proper role of law.
And whether or not you wear a seatbelt is your business. It is not the government’s business. You are free to be stupid, and the government has no right to outlaw stupidity.
Seatbelt laws are velvet chains. We’re told they are for our own good, but they are nothing more than government oppression. They are Big Brother pretending to be our mommy.
And one more example of how we have come to accept what earlier generations of Americans would have fought to the death to resist.
If you cannot distinguish between what two (or one) persons do in their home, and what people do while operating a vehicle on a public roadway, then I have great fear for the conservative movement.
Using small words: I own my home. I don't own the road, the People (through their agent the State) do. In order to use my car on the road, I agree to the People's rules. I don't have to agree to anyone's rules to use myself.
You talk like you're the spokesman for the nanny state. The nannies that pay for everything. I got news for you, I pay the damn taxes and they're my roads too. As long as I drive w/o crashing and in a respectable manner, keep your damn jackbooted road agents the hell off my tail. Keep your airbags, your seatbelts and your medical assistance and all your concern for my health and safety.
Furthermore the Constitution doesn't grant rights, they are claiimed by Free individuals. They are retained by individuals that fight for them, regardless of the onslaught and claims of whatever group of tyrants shows up. If my fellow citizens want to be my new mommy, then they will have to join the ranks of the N. Koreans and other communitarians, or get in line with them, because I will not turn over my soverenty of will in personal matters to a committee of benevolent bozos, whether they're duly elected bozos, or not!
I agree that seatbelt laws are "violations of our freedom," but the time to confront this issue was decades ago. Let's tear up every square inch of pavement that has been publicly funded over the last 100 years, then we'll talk about getting rid of seatbelt laws.
Uhmmmmm. Not necessarily. Happened a couple of years ago. Woman in the passenger seat was dutifully wearing her seat belt. Car was T-boned from the driver's side. Seatbelt snapped her spine. Now paralysed from the ribs down. Driver (not strapped in) got a couple of broken bones and a lot of bruises but they healed. The woman's spine didn't.
Seatbelts not NECESSARILY a good idea.
"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?""
Cain killed his brother Abel. The passage gives no more than Cain's attempt to weasel out of acknowledging he killed Abel. You use it as if God gives a command for the elightened of the world to run the lives of their fellows. He didn't! He gave all men a Free will and commanded them all to respect that gift as He does. What part of though shalt not steal don't you get?
Fortunately,I am up to the task.
Seatbelts, like so many government mandated devices suffer from the same limitations imposed by the curve of diminishing returns as everything else in Nature and G-d's Universe.
That is to say, under SOME circumstances, with SOME seatbelts, SOME lives will be saved and SOME injuries will be prevented.
Over time an equal and opposite number of injuries and deaths will be CAUSED by seatbelts.
My favorite illuminating example: If Teddy Kennedy had been wearing a seatbelt at Chappaquidick, he might not be alive and among us today.
Now my favorite question for all the Nanny State acoyltes among us:
If/When the almighty state determines that the best way to prevent injury in a automobile collision is for all parties to wear the equivalent of motorcycle helmets will you cheerfully strap yours on?
After all, race car drivers wear them. Think of the chiiiilllllldrun.
Best regards to all,
Pavement's a good thing, nannies aren't.
Those incapable of working,should be provided for their families and charities, or by a compassionate STATE legislature. If a state govt will not provide for the care of the indigent, they will of course starve or very nearly. Elected officials will see to it that there are provisions for the truly needy.
The problem with the cost of caring for those injured in an accident(in the case of no seat belts), or taking care of those children with parents incapable of taking care of their responsibility, is one of too much socialism, not to few laws.
It is not my responsibility to provide for children other than mine, so I can mourn the passing of those few peoples that would. I would feel sad of course, but not guilty. They can adopt their children out, put them to work(if we could change the counterproductive child labor laws), or or be so selfish(read responsible)for the deaths of their charges.
IN truth, few are in that position, and charity would take care of their needs. People that are too proud to beg, are likely not to feel guilty about begging from the govt. As a matter of fact, they see the provision of their own needs, as a governmental right.
One, I can, and wearing a condom isn't limited to one's home.
Two, I fear greatly for what used to be a Conservative movement since so many so-called conservatives seem to have forgotten anything resembling a 'live and let live' philosophy, especially when they can get the government involved.
Using small words: I own my home. I don't own the road, the People (through their agent the State) do. In order to use my car on the road, I agree to the People's rules. I don't have to agree to anyone's rules to use myself.
Cute. But in your magnificent efforts to be condenscending, you missed the entire point. (You cannot truly be condenscending if you aren't actually better than the other. Or do I need to type more slowly so because you can't read very fast? Tsk, tsk, your lips are moving again!)
If I'm not wearing my seatbelt, what effect does that have on other drivers?
None.
I'll submit that wearing a condom would prevent more illnesses and deaths than does wearing a seatbelt.
But you are prepared to protect your rights and privacy while giving others' away.
NOWHERE can I find where Jesus or Paul advocated having the govenment enforce church rules, spiritual laws, our personal wishes, or common sense.
That's right, he did say that. If the Pharisees heed that command though, they won't have anything to do and they'll lose their self-rightous claims to boast and demand tribute.
I have to agree. Used to be that each person was responsible for being responsible....ie, you have an accident...YOUR insurance goes up...not everyone else's. Now, everyone's goes up for anyone's irresponsibility. Not right!
No, I haven't read that and don't believe it.
Who said anything like that?
That's sounds suspiciously like personal freedom and individual responsibility. We can't have that, now can we?
Personally, I have worn a seat belt when driving for the last 20 years. Now, I only wear it when I choose to (rarely). Usually only when the roads are bad, not because it's the law.
Two possible solutions. One - kill Joe off before he can procreate because he is so stupid. Or two, end the socialism and make people responsible for their own actions.
I vote for personal freedom and individual responsibility every time.
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