Enough Already !
I’m lookin’ for my can ‘o WhoopAss...
As came up in another comment thread, we choose to curtail certain behaviors in return for living in a civilized society. We don’t steal or run red lights, we keep our agreements and pay our debts. In exchange for this self-control, we live where it is pretty dang safe to walk down most streets, and drive down more. We shop and dine and conduct business in a pretty darned nice environment.
Look around wherever you live—there are trees and shop windows, flowers and no running effluvia in the streets. Compared to London c. 1450AD—we live in Heaven.
But day by day, those whom we have employed to oversee those rules we all choose to live by—well, they’re getting a tad too enthusiastic about their work. There are so many laws… There are places where I can get fined $1,000 just for smokin’ a dang cigarette! Not tossing it. Not setting someone on fire with it. Smoking it! Outside!! And I don’t even know where all those places are! How unsafe is that?!?
America has the highest percent of its population in jail of all the industrialized countries. And most of the 3rd world countries. Is that really because Americans are such Bad People? I think not.
Next on the Control Freak Agenda is the Health Police. Burgers, fries, salt?!?! All will become “offenses.” Next come penalties to control those ‘offenses.’
Where/when comes that point when we say, “Enough!”
.
More: Here’s a phrase—Pepsi is cutting out ads to kids,
amid mounting pressure on governments to curb obesity
I was gonna say, “governments don’t cure obesity,” but then Soviet Russia leapt to mind....
The Georgia Senate has just drafted a law that will make it illegal to smoke just about anywhere except inside your house or in a cigar shop. The only reason cigar shops were excluded is because they were short 4 votes unless that capitulation was made.
Posted by Jim on 02/28/05 at 02:40 AMWell it’s nice to know some people will still stand up and fight for what’s right......
/sarcasm
Posted by Claire on 02/28/05 at 08:21 AMClaire I being responsible for putting a goodly number of those one and a half mil in prison. I can tell yes there are some really bad players in there. It is not really that bad out of 300 mil people. It started filling uo about 20 years ago when people got tired of the revolving door justice system. So we came up minimum mandatory sentencing to put a foot in that door.A lot of people believe that most of thode in prison are there for simple drug possession. That is an urban myth thats spread by normal and groups like that. Its hard to get put in jail for simple possession.Most judges wont do it. It takes repeated charges then they are just sent to the workhouse for eleven months and 29 days not prison. The sentencing guidlines have cut down on violent crime by 50% and we still need to lock up more.
Posted by on 03/07/05 at 01:46 AMI geddit, Jack—there are some really bad people on the ‘inside,’ whom I never wish to meet. Anywhere. Ever.
OTOH I still wonder what it is that makes so many of our population jail-worthy… Something just seems out of whack with this.
Posted by Claire on 03/08/05 at 12:15 PM
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