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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Jim S who wrote (22690)7/3/2006 7:34:36 AM
From: Lane3  Read Replies (1) of 541604
 
People should have the right to be as stupid as they please,

I agree with that, in principle. The government should not be in the business of protecting people from their own informed but stupid decisions. I would be more insistent on it if there were no costs to society as well as to the individual.

Like it or not, we live in a society where society pays, literally, for our mistakes. Medicaid or Medicare or charity or our insurance company group members will pick up the tab for injuries. My preferred way of handling that is for us to be less socialized so that there is no cost other than to the individual and to let the individual be a fool if he wants. Unfortunately and realistically, that is not likely to happen any time soon. So I don't make too big an issue out of the nanny aspect of seat belt laws even though I resent it as much as you do.

My particular complaint about seat belt laws is that some people are endangered by them and must become scofflaws to improve their own safety. It should never be the case that safety laws force us to do things that make us less safe. That is just plain wrong. I fault the inept laws and regulations, primarily, and secondarily the true believers who bury the safety problems with seatbelts. While people may no longer have the right to be fools, they should certainly retain the right to make smart decisions about their own safety without running afoul of the law.
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