Seatbelt Laws, Big Brother Loves Us.
Let me start of by saying that this is not a rant about seatbelts. Outside of being mildly irritating on the shoulders, I think seatbelts are one of our best ideas, and an absolute must for anyone who rides in any automobile or airplane. They save thousands of lives every year, and could save thousands more if everyone would wear them. Anyone with an ounce of sense and even a mild desire to stay alive should stay buckled up whenever possible.
That said, few things piss me off more than laws requiring adult citizens to wear seatbelts while riding in a car. These laws are intrusive, unnecessary, and one hundred percent unconstitutional. Our government is based around the idea that all freedom starts with the people, and we only allow the government to curb that freedom when it is "necessary and proper" to carry out its function. These functions include protection from other nations, maintaing the infrastructure, basic education, some civil service activities, and most notably protecting us from each other. It is in this last category that the governments "function" requires us to sacrifice our freedoms. In order to live and work together, we make rules forbidding murder, theft, rape, and all the other sorts of nastiness that people can inflict on each other. Basically I give up my freedom to kill people that annoy me in order to live in a society where murder is forbidden. Naturally, these laws have expanded well beyond murder and theft, and today cover all manner of topics from campaign financing to unfair business practices. The basic idea though has stayed the same, to protect the citizens from the actions of others.
Thanks for the lesson in governmental theory Josh, but what does this have to do with seatbelt laws? Isn't it just another example of protecting the public? You said yourself that they could save thousands of lives every year.
Yes they could, but thats not the issue. The issue is that its not the governments place to force me to wear them. My choice to wear or not wear a seatbelt will cause harm to only one person, myself. Therefore, its not any concern of the governments which I choose to do. To allow the government to create laws protecting us from ourselves (and our own stupidity in this case) sets a dangerous precedent. It allows the government to decide what is best for us, to remove our choices in the name of public safety. Tens of thousands of lives could be saved every year if Americans would perform 20 minutes of exercise 3 times a week, any doctor in the country would tell you that, but does that mean we should make it illegal to not exercise? I think anyone would recognize a law along those lines as the government overstepping its place and dictating people's personal choices. Well the principle is the same. When it does not affect my fellow citizens in some kind of negative way, its not any of the government's damned buisness. I dont know of anyone who wants to live in a society without personal choices, where a "Big Brother" government has already decided what is best and you MUST obey its decision. The consequence of having a society based on freedom and choice though, is accepting that some people will make poor choices. They will choose to not wear a seatbelt, to waste money on a lottery ticket, or to eat 10 Big Macs a day. Idiotic as all these things are, they don't affect the rest of us, and because of that, its none of our business what they do.
As Americans, we were born into a country who's history began with people trying to base a nation on the idea that government did not dictate to the people, but rather that it was their tool. As a citizen of that nation I'll gladly sacrifice my tax money and freedom to do harm, so that this tool can protect me from murderers, fraudulent businessmen, and invading armies. But I will not tolerate for one minute this government making my decisions for me, in effect saying that it knows what is best for me. I'm enraged to the point of violence that group of well meaning citizens was able to make this a law, and the next time I get pulled, I think I'll take my seatbelt off, just so I can go before a judge and protest.