Posted on 09/10/2003 6:55:04 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Imagine you're having a backyard barbeque. A cop walks in and announces, "This is a random health and safety check to see whether you've removed the skin from the chicken before you served it." Though delicious in taste, we all know that chicken skin contains considerable unhealthy fat. If you're caught serving chicken skin, the cop gets your ID and issues you a $50 ticket.
If something like this were to occur, most Americans – I hope – would see such an action as ludicrous, offensive and a gross violation of our liberties. But not so fast. Let's think about it. Each year, obesity claims the lives of 300,000 Americans and adds over $100 billion to health-care costs. Doesn't that give government the right to dictate what we eat? If you're the least offended by the notion of government dictating our diets, pray tell me how it differs in principle from seatbelt laws and especially the new federal enforcement program called "Click It or Ticket."
Under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, the federal government is spending $500 million to aggressively enforce seatbelt laws. According to a July Consumers Research article written by Eric Peters titled "The Federal Government Wants You to Buckle Up," about 11,000 law enforcement agencies across the country have set up random checkpoints and have issued hundreds of thousands of tickets to unbelted drivers and passengers.
Just as in my barbeque scenario, their justification is our health and safety. After all, the 2002 highway death toll was 42,815 and, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, "The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes on America's Roadways," seatbelt usage could have prevented an estimated 9,200 fatalities.
"Click It or Ticket" represents another bold step along the road to serfdom. History knows of no totalitarian agenda where noble goals weren't used as justification. Nazis used "for the good of the German Volk" and the Soviets used "for the good of the proletariat" as their justification. Health and safety have become the American justification for attacks on liberty.
In a free society, each person owns himself. As such, he has the broad discretion to make his own choices regardless of what others think of the wisdom of his choices. He has the right to take chances with his own health and safety. However, if an American doesn't own himself, and it's Congress that owns him, he doesn't have those rights. Thus, the "Click It or Ticket" program is simply Congress' way of caring for its property, the American people.
Whether seatbelt usage is a good idea is beside the point, for daily exercise, nutritious meals, eight hours sleep, and cultural and intellectual enrichment might also be good ideas. The point is whether government has a right to coerce us into taking care of ourselves.
If eating what we wish is our business and not that of government, then why should we accept government's coercing us to wear seatbelts? America's tyrants might answer, "We just haven't gotten around to dictating diets yet."
Some might argue, but falsely so, that the problem with people exercising their liberty to drive without seatbelts, ride motorcycles without helmets or eat in unhealthy ways is that if they become injured or sick, society will be burdened with higher health-care costs. That's not a problem of liberty, but one of socialism.
There's no liberty-based argument for forcing one person to care for the needs of another. Under socialism, one is obliged to care for another. A parent-child relationship emerges between the citizen and the government. That was not the vision of our Founders.
Thomas Sowell for Vice President. ;-)
Careful, you will be set upon and attacked for embracing those crazy libertarians.
Careful, you will be set upon and attacked for embracing those crazy libertarians.
It's worse than that - I've been a card-carrying LP member since 1984 !
And if alcohol were eliminated from accidents, how many lives would not be lost? 25,000 or so.
Once again, it can be truthfully stated, we have the best government money can buy. Thanks for the carnage, Liquor Lobby.
That's actually the back edge of the wedge. The leading edge of the wedge was thinner.
The principle they use in health care, for example, is: "The government had to pay for the health care costs of at least one poooor person. Therefore, the government has to control everyone else's health care for cost reasons. Since the government has to cut costs for health, it will control all your lives."
Under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, the federal government is spending $500 million to aggressively enforce seatbelt laws.
Man, this really pisses me off. I drag my ass out of bed each day and go to work, just to have almost half of my damn paycheck sucked up by these freaking statist scumbags to fund their little half-billion dollar make-work projects.
I’m about ready to go live in a forest in Alaska and eat roots and berries just to get away from these people.
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