The one thing that can get me motivated to write is people proposing laws to protect me from myself. The National Safety Council has released a study concluding that fatal crashes could be reduced significantly if 30 states enacted tougher seat belt laws.
Now, I’ve worn a seatbelt religiously for the past twenty-five years. I may involve myself in some high risks activities but I believe in taking safety precautions no matter what I’m doing to reduce risks to a minimum. That’s something I choose to do for myself. I don’t need government making those decisions for me.
I think that’s why I was put off by the following comment in the story:
“These laws are viewed by some legislators as the line between enough government and too much government,” Hurley says. “We feel strongly the fight for personal freedom ought to take place on some other level.”
What other level? We’re talking about personal responsibility here. What other level is there to fight for personal freedom?
About Larry D. Burton
I'm a 55 year old controls engineer who just likes tinkering with stuff.
Finished high school at a local institute of learning. Decided it wasn't a good time to be a healthy, physically fit 18 year old with no college experience. Entered college and started working toward a degree in animal husbandry.
1975-1976
Discoverd that I was not going to be a very good husband of animals so I left school to figure out what I might be good at. A local beverage company took pity on me and paid me to go from place to place making sure their on tap beverages were maintaining their high quality.
1976-1979
Got out of quality control and into vending. Learned about control systems and refrigeration also learned that vending machines are heavy and vending doesn't pay all that well.
In 1977 I found myself married
1979-1981
Dedicated myself to installing and maintaining commercial refrigeration equipment. Found myself on the roof of a local grocery store one night in the middle of an ice storm replacing a compressor and figured it was time to get back into school.
1981-1986
Got my but back into school at night and changed jobs to keep the mechanical and electrical systems of a local coporate hospital in working order. The job expanded to unstopping drains and burning lab samples and amputated body parts.
1986-now
Finished school and took on a job designing, installing and maintaining industrial control systems. Along the way I picked up a bunch of computer skills that became very useful connecting various industrial controllers to one another and moving the data into coporate databases. I now operate Dallas Bay Technologies, a one man shop specializing in technology solutions for industrial problems.
