May 10, 2009
(South Carolina) - For years, I have been trying to figure out what it is that
drives members of the legislature. Just being in the legislature doesn't mean a
person HAS to pass legislation. Some legislators used to brag that they prevented
legislation from passing - that the timely use of a "nay" vote saved our citizens
from some abusive law.
Now, it seems that if a legislator doesn't pass some kind of law, they're not doing
their job. Of course, this is ludicrous on the face of it. And it's one of the major
reasons that our citizens are being trampled more and more. South Carolina has
ceased to be a state that honors liberty, and become one which serves the whims
of "do-gooders."
So I put it to the legislature: Why do you feel the need to tell me how to teach
my child how to drink? Why do you think you have the right to tell me what substances
I should smoke or drink or chew or ingest anything, if I so chose? Who told you
that you have the right to tell me with whom I may and may not find solace? Why
do you think you have the right to keep me from taking my own life, if that, in my
right mind, is what I chose to do? Have you become a perpetrator of Acton's Axiom?
Do you really think you have the right to push me around, or tell me what speed
I must travel on a highway (the whole concept reeks of people with diseased egos
telling normal people what to do), or that I need a doctor's prescription in order
to take a drug we both know I need to take! Who said doctors should have that
power, anyway? It's one thing to suggest a cure, it's quite another to command
one and have it justified by word of law!
I'm not saying that ALL legislators are this way. But I AM saying that the great
majority of legislators actually believe that, by passing a law, they will actually
change behavior - a tenet which has already been disproven by Michael Crichton
in his book, The Great Train Robbery. Perhaps by draconian enforcement,
such as the ridiculous seatbelt law, which has wasted untold amounts of highway
patrol time and money. NOW, yes, people wear seat belts. But they do so because
they are afraid of their own government, not because they care about their own
safety. And it's a sure bet that, if you were to take away the law, the large majority
of people would revert to their old habit until they were CONVINCED seatbelt
wearing was a good idea.
Likewise, the citizens of this state pay ridiculous taxes for property and income
which is consistently wasted by our school boards and legislators on projects at
which the founding fathers would grimace. Our schools are panic-factories which
run scared from the all-too-real boogeyman of lawsuits from disgruntled parents.
They have almost as many administrators and security people than teachers - a tell-tale
symptom of mandatory attendance.
And to that concept, add this: why do we have to have gun carry permits? Why
do we have to have hunting permits? Why fishing permits? Why building codes?
A good lawsuit and good insurance not hampered by government regulation would
solve all of that - a simple understanding that any attack on any person means the
offender has to pay hard cash for his or her sin, should be enough.
John Locke would say that it's your job to keep government OUT of my life and
enable infrastructure - and THAT's ALL!
All of this smacks of patronizing know-it-alls who think they have the answer, when
in fact, all they do is cause discomfort, inconvenience, and greater expense to those
whom they purport to help. Is this what we elected our representatives for?
It isn't that they have done nothing good. It's just that the private sector could
do most of it better. Why do we even have a small group who tells the shrimpers
how and when to ply their trade?
Do legislators NEED to pass laws? Maybe. But not like this, and not in this amount.
We don't need saving. From the peanut gallery, we beg you, just get out of our
way, and, please, let us be our own saviors.
Thanks.
