Posted on 01/05/2005 5:17:27 AM PST by SJackson
A sign of the diminished spirit of liberty is how rarely the question is asked: Why is this any of the government's business?
Take the issue of cell phones on airplanes.
The Federal Communications Commission has been widely condemned for considering the elimination of its ban on the in-flight use of cell phones.
None of the outcry, however, seems to be about safety. No one is asserting that planes will start falling from the sky.
Moreover, the FCC won't be making the safety determination anyway. That will be made by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FCC is just trying to get out of the way in case the FAA decides there is no safety concern.
Instead of safety, the condemnation of the FCC is rooted in concerns about etiquette and customer comity. Simply put, the critics find cell phones annoying and don't want to be seated next to their use on a flight.
In our flaccid age, perhaps there should be a federal Department of Etiquette and Customer Comity, with a Division of Anti-Annoyance. But a government in the business of protecting people against annoying social behavior isn't in the business of protecting liberty.
From the reaction, you'd think the FCC was contemplating a regulation requiring the use of cell phones on airplanes. Instead, it's only thinking about getting out of the regulation business.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
You'd think government would be getting out of the regulation business? Republicans seem to have even more of a zen for government meddling in our lives than the Democrats ever did. You know the old saying: the more things change, the more...
Don't need no reason or explanation.
it don't need no government, airlines could ban cell phones all by themselves.
I think it has to do less with principle either way than which industries get regulatory payoffs. I also freely admit that your mileage may vary.
Why? Commerce Clause. Duh.
Komrade Klinton still gave us HIPAA—the most meddlesome, intrusive, pain-in-the-@$$ regs I've ever had to deal with.
But then I'me only marginally involved in healthcare.
You'd be amazed at how much is taken for granted, by conservatives and even ardent libertarians. I just got into an argument of this nature regarding licenses for commercial space travel. I asked what business the government, of all people, had in issuing licenses for private individuals to launch spacecraft. The response? "Well, somebody HAS to regulate THAT."
It's as though the people have lost their sense of in-dependence. As in "not depending on others to solve their problems." Sure, in some cases the government CAN solve the problems. But rarely. And almost never as well as an individual or private-sector effort could.
This article's question needs to be asked about EVERY GOVERNMENT FUNCTION, from postage stamps to street lamps.
The whole purpose of the FCC was to prevent interference among radio frequency signals. This certainly seems a lot broader than that, just like the FCC "indecency" crackdown. You may think some of these areas require legislation, but it just goes to show that an agency established for one purpose metastisizes into something else entirely.
Why do people who have cell phones believe they must have a right to bother other people who dont have them? It is annoying to have to listen to these people in Restaurants or planes. The funny part is although its rude to use the cell phone , they think you are rude when you ask them to take it somewhere else. Stupid baskets.
Bingo!
when someone uses a cell phone in my presence, i like to pay real close attention to their conversation... it makes them a bit nervous to have someone eaves dropping... also, when there is a break in the conversation, i like to say loudly, 'isn't this the best gay bar you've ever been in?'...
not that there's anything wrong with that...
i was in a bathroom stall, when in the stall next to me, a guy made a call...
i kept flushing like i had the runs and was eating exlax...
let him try telling whoever he was talking to that he was stuck in traffic...
teeman
When you're right, you're right. You involved in healthcare software or something?
They don't. I think the authors point is that that's a function of the restaurant or airline, who should ban them if they're a nuisance as theatres do, not the government. Perhaps no phoning tables in restaurants would do.
I am so stealing that gag...
There have been a few of us (Puff List) that have been on this for quite a while now.
You've got that right brother!
We sure have, Joe. And for quite a long time.
yep
Bump!
Remember when Newt Gingrich was talking about the federal Department of Homework-Checking?
I thought that was one of his funniest lines.
In my lifetime, the Republicans have given us wage and price controls (Nixon) and the god-awful ADA (Bush).
And if I'm not mistaken, didn't Nixon also have something to do with OSHA?
My first thought was "Who wants to fly any more anyway?"
My next thought was the same as yours, but the airlines are probably pushing for the legislation so that the government will be the bad guy, not them.
Could hardly say it better. Weak-minded Sheeple really make me sick, looking to Government for satisfaction of human needs rather than to God—exactly like Lenin and Trotsky would've wanted.
If we didn't require motocycle helmets, cyclists would be splattering their brains all over the sidewalks. If we didn't regulate food and drugs, vendors would be selling maggot-ridden meat and cyanide as children's vitamins. If we didn't issue business licenses, the city would be overrun by ... businesses. Yep. That's the line all right.
Ask yourself: if a choice must be made, who do you want to have the power to make that choice? You yourself, or someone else?
If you say anyone but yourself, then you are acting like a child. Children don't like making decisions, so they abdicate that responsibility to adults. We must be a society of overgrown children, because an amazing number of citizens are reluctant to make decisions, and leave them instead to Big Daddy Government.
Anyone who willingly gives that choice away is a volunteer slave.
And undeserving of the title "American." The liberties we shed blood for are to be treasured, not to be yielded to tyrants for the sake of a little convenience or the illusion of safety.
Which brings something to mind for me: remember when the Klintoon's said "It takes a village to raise a child?" Were they talking about true children, or all of us. Just a thought.
And for as long as we have been sdaying things would go this far we have been laughed at as tin-foil hat wearing the skyisfalling chicken littles.
I'm not one to say I toldl you so, but..................
I TOLD YOU SO.
You seem to have forgotten when the democrats controlled the presidency, house and senate. The bills were being written so fast that they were trying to get votes done while carrying to drafts into the room. Pages were falling on the floor as they rushed them out. It was a mess seen on national TV and that is why they got booted out. But never mind, once a republican basher, always a republican basher, facts be darned.
The sky is falling.
Yup!!!!!!!!!
Thank JimRob for FR! More and more people are coming out of the ether.
Yes indeed.
Yes, Nixon gave us OSHA and the EPA.
Defines the difference between liberals and conservatives.
But,but----how are we going to take care of ourselves without the government telling us what to do?
I have hard time thinking for myself,making simple life-style decisions,knowing what to eat etc. How would I survive without the government telling me what to do?It just boggles my feeble little mind.
(Sarcasm off)
And for as long as we have been sdaying things would go this far we have been laughed at as tin-foil hat wearing the skyisfalling chicken littles
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Too true. LOL
Those nice young men in their clean white suits.........are coming to take you away!!!!!!!
It is truly sad, IMO.
Agreed. :)
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