Government bodies are elected to provide certain legitimate services for taxpayers, the majority of which have to do with the “safety and well being” of their fellow citizens. The evolution (or devolution) of the terms “safety and well being” seems recently to be driven by government’s lack of faith in the ability of the average American to make intelligent decisions about their own lives and property, but in the final analysis it is simply a quest for more and more control over behavior.
Every year now it seems that there is a new “issue du jour” that must be acted upon by some governing body to protect citizens from themselves. It is as if the general public is wandering through life like the “walking dead”, unable to make their own decisions. Education is useless. Persuasion is needed. Or so it seems to many elected officials.
The ever-expanding role of governments to ensure the “safety and well being” of all citizens has come a long way since the days of cyclamates and DDT, both of which turned out to be wrong. No longer can you have the toilets, shower heads, gas cans, light bulbs, paint or pesticides that you want. Owning and bearing guns, the citizenry’s Constitutional guard against tyrannical government, is under fire everywhere. Vehicles are loaded down with new EPA abuses every year. You have to wear your seatbelt, even though it doesn’t endanger anyone else when you don’t. Smokers are treated like lepers. New York is trying to ban a laundry list of habits. New Jersey is outlawing eating while driving. The IRS has your number, the TSA thinks your body is fair game, the NSA knows more about you than you do, and of course the ultimate behavior modifier is Obamacare.
No one would seriously disagree that driving while distracted by anything is dangerous, and causes reckless driving, already a violation. Driving is inherently exposed to all manner of distraction from beginning to end, whether it is roadside advertising, an eye-catching or reckless vehicle, a suspicious or interesting person, a stray animal, police on patrol, fire and rescue vehicles en route, unsettling weather, random events, distractions inside the vehicle, such as people, food, cigarettes, pets, insects, setting the radio, GPS or cruise control, adjusting a mirror, turning on wipers or headlights, adjusting your seat or seatbelt, vehicle malfunctions or even sneezing or coughing. All these distractions are a checklist of any random drive.
Over time we have all been programmed to go quietly and pay sales tax, property tax, income tax, social security and medicare taxes, automobile fees, boat fees, motorcycle fees and a whole host of hidden fees and taxes. While the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of our God-given liberties is accelerated by every new tax and fee that comes down the pike, real damage to Constitutional freedoms occurs when government is “distracted” by attempts to control every behavior.
Like the proverbial frogs in the pot on the stove, little-by-little the heat is turned up and before you know it your “freedom” is cooked.
Wryley Bettis
Greer City Council District 5
Councilman Bettis started his 15th year on Greer City Council in January. He has served as Mayor Pro Tem and chairs the Greer Development Corporation, Greer’s economic development organization.