This has sparked a debate because Pennsylvania does not have a helmet law. Massachusetts does. So my question is: Should our government be passing laws because they are for "our own good?"
Here is my belief: In America, we have the right to be stupid.
If I want to ride my motorcycle without a helmet please view me as an experiment in Darwinism. If I want to drive without wearing a seatbelt, please see me as a public service announcement ("This is your body without a seatbelt....")
Where do these laws end? If we continue passing "For your own good" laws, then I propose the following:
These laws would all be for my safety. Because I need to be protected from myself... Hey Big Brother: No thanks! I'm all set. (That was for you Jason). I have a mother and I'm and adult. I don't need you telling me to be sure to finish my vegatables.
Another thing that annoys me to no end is that we have a government that tells me I have no choice about wearing a seatbelt or a helmet and turns around and tells me that I do have a choice when it comes to an unborn child.
And the people who are backing helmet laws are opposing the governmental tapping of international phone calls. How do you justify this? They are both for your own good! One protects you against yourself, the other against international terrorists. You can't have it both ways.
What is my solution? Do not mandate helmet or seatbelt wearing. Here is the law that needs to be in the books: If you are in an accident and you are found to not have been wearing a helmet or seatbelt, you are responsible for your medical expenses. Even if it is not your fault or if you do not have health insurance, if you are going to exercise your right to be a moron, you will pay for the consequences. Other drivers will not and tax payers will not. Problem solved. I have the freedom to not wear the life saving devices and no one else is at risk.
This is an issue of big vs little government. The more we allow our government to tell us what we must and must not do, the closer we come to a big government tells me how many calories you must intake to be healthy or face punishment, a government that outlaws motorcycles all together because they are so dangerous to the rider, and a government that regulates how much coffee you can drink because, after all, it's for your own good.
What's best for me? A government that let's me make my own mistakes. A government that let's me be free to be stupid. A small government that I hardly notice. That's what's best for me. Anyone agree with that which is just my opinion?
(By the way, at the time of the accident, Ben didn't have a valid Pennsylvania Motorcycle License...)
3 comments:
Let's here it for the next Andy Rooney! You're funny man. Seriously. Glad I stopped by today to get some hilarity. Could you add a law against Francona putting Tavarez in after Timlin just pitched a perfect 11th inning?
Ok, here comes the fun.....then I should be able to smoke as much as I want whenever/wherever I want?
But it bothers other people....the smell is kind of gross....
Well, other people having to clean brains off of the highway after an un-helmeted rider crashes is also kind of gross.
Come on Marc, what do you have to say to that!?
Smoke away, just not near me.
It has nothting to do with gross. Second hand smoke is harmful to others. Someone driving without a seatbelt or riding without a helmet is not harmful to me at all. People cleaning brains off of the highway are paid to do it and it harms no one.
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