(originally posted August 1, 2008)
Mention The Patriot Act or FISA and all good liberals begin to foam at the mouth and rant about how Bushler is ravaging their civil rights and shredding the constitution. Mention the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the left starts yapping like a bunch of chihuahuas even though most liberal haven’t the slightest idea what that legislation does or says, but it contains the word “military” so it must be bad. And for the few liberals who know what MCA:2006 is about get hung up on how Bush and his Gestapo will use it to strip citizens of habeas corpus, which is not possible under that law, but the left doesn’t let facts get in the way of a good rant.
Take for example the terrorist wire tapping law. On the surface I oppose it because it could be the federal government taking baby steps to an authoritarian state where the state’s rights surpass an individual’s rights. However, in the grand scheme of things unless one is planning a crime or using telecommunications for illicit purposes there is no worry. The fact that terrorists are among us makes me able to sleep at night knowing that any conversations I have with my grandmother are electronically scanned for certain words. Phone calls to my grandmother reveal much less than what I regularly hear people disclosing in cell phone conversations.
What I object to much more strenuously is the nanny state legislation the government insists on foisting upon us poor people who apparently don’t know any better so the government has to protect us from ourselves.
First we had seat belt laws, removing from us the right to chose to wear a seat belt or not. Then came bicylcle helmet laws, first for children under 14, then for children under 17, and now it is becoming mandatory for adults in some states to wear them, including ironically in states that allow motorcyclists to ride without helmets. Then states began enacting laws forbidding use of cell phones when driving, to placate some and since they had no intention of complying either, they exempted hands-free devices although the most distracting part of the call isn’t dialing or holding the phone, but rather the mental distraction of having a conversation while driving.
But merely controlling people’s actions wasn’t enough, recently government has begun an all out offensive on legislating behavior modification.
NYC banned transfats, because people didn’t know enough to eat in moderation and get exercise. Just this week LA banned fast food restaurants from opening in certain neighborhoods, leaving the all knowing LA City Council to decide which neighborhoods’ residents are to dumb to stop eating when they are full as well as decide which types of restaurants will be considered “fast food” and which will be designated as “quick serve”. Not to be left out of a great way to regulate people’s behavior NYC recently discussed banning new fast food restaurants in poor neighborhoods.
Ignore for a minute that for many people they only chance of a hot meal is if mom brings home a sack of hamburgers from the dollar menu. Virtually the sole source of jobs and economic growth in impoverished neighborhoods is… (wait for it)... fast food restaurants.
So while the liberals rant away about the potential for government abuse that could possible effect civil rights, they applaud the government’s actions in setting limits on people who just don’t know any better. Of course the astonishing hubris and audacity these liberals display in assuming people are too dumb for their own good is lost on them, as is the blatant racism inherent in these laws. And yet somehow the nanny government is portrayed as a hero despite trampling our real freedom, and the government programs that protect the national interests, in accordance with the constitution, are deemed evil.
