Hal - Deliberately Basic

You Can’t Have Both

Watching Matt Lauer on a recent interview with Mitt Romney in the back seat of a car, I failed to notice, neither of them were wearing seatbelts. Watching Matt Lauer repeatedly apologize for not wearing a seatbelt was disgusting. Not wearing a seatbelt has become so stigmatized one would think he had raped a baby.

New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine was nearly killed in an automobile accident in April. More important that this is, he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. He not only apologized, he made a commercial about the treachery and wickedness of not being buckled up. If he had been nearly killed wearing a seatbelt, would we still have the benefit of his uninteresting commercial? I don’t think so.

Meanwhile, millions of human beings are dying all over the world from war, starvation, drugs, disease, and ignorance. Some die because they wore a seatbelt. Yes, there is a case against wearing seatbelts. More important than that is the case for freedom of choice.

Freedom of choice is so much associated with abortion rights, the broader meaning has been lost, freedom for everyone to choose how they want to live, or die. The question of the day is not that have we lost freedom of choice; we have. The question is, has our attention been purposely diverted for the state’s agenda. This is not only dangerous, but fodder for conspiracy theorists and radicals. And that is more terrifying than a mere seatbelt issue.

The argument for seatbelts, they save lives, is undoubtedly true in some cases. In other cases a seatbelt may be the cause of death.
The argument that the system, meaning you and me, have to bear the cost of those who don’t wear seatbelts is insurance company generated bullshit. Show me independent statistics generated by an unbiased entity. Better yet, show me anyone who would relinquish our socially acceptable freedoms (gluttony, religious zealots, Rush Limbaugh ties) because our neighbors think we should.

Personal freedom is about choice, and choice is gone, at least for the time being. I’m not an activist, unless this is called activism, and I realize I’m not really alone in my thinking. But when 80% of the population believe seatbelt laws are a good thing, I believe I’m in the minority for freedom of choice.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
~Abraham Lincoln

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