As a nation, we are beginning to come to our senses on the subject of individual rights. The time has come to revisit the laws governing cars and driving. Why should we have socialist-inspired speed limits, minimum age to drive, traffic signs and other paternalistic government laws? This is supposed to be a free country, not a sissy European country.

As responsible citizens, we should have the constitutional right to drive however we see fit. Let’s be honest, it’s not the car that causes the problem, it’s the driver.

Horses, horse-drawn wagons, cars and trucks or armored vehicles, they are all the same, a means of transportation. The Founders were careful not to include any language in our Constitution to limit how or where they are used.

I pose that if the Founders had thought it was important, they would have included “original intent” language in the Constitution. A squishy socialist might counter that the term “common good” would allow such laws. That’s the same tired argument that has given us Social Security, environmental laws, corporate governance laws and the million other laws that limit our personal freedoms. Don’t get me started.

A car is just a tool, an inanimate object. At present, we have myriad laws that determine how this tool is built. We have laws that dictate pollution standards, seat belts, bumper construction, structural integrity, miles per gallon and more. We even require citizens to maintain these tools to an arbitrary standard. Repealing these restrictive laws would release the inherent creativity of the American entrepreneur. I’ll leave it to you to imagine what the bright future would look like.

Over the years, freedom-loving citizens and legislators have been able to subvert some of these oppressive laws. Patriots remove catalytic converters and refuse to wear seat belts.

Subversive legislators were smart enough to include language in socialist­inspired MPG and safety laws that have enabled SUVs and trucks to be exempt and flourish. Whiners complain that a person in a small car is much more likely to be seriously injured or killed if involved in a wreck with an SUV or large truck.

I would counter that the person is not seriously concerned with safety. Get a real car and quit whining.

Some would say that we need traffic control laws such as stop signs and lights, yield signs, lane divider lines and all of the other clap-trap that constantly competes for our attention while driving. I agree that some of these aids might help the orderly flow of traffic, but I contend that it’s not worth it.

It’s a slippery slope to losing our basic rights. I have been to countries where there are essentially no traffic laws. No problem, traffic continued to flow. In fact, it was exhilarating being part of the natural, Darwinian selection process.

There is hope. I see more and more enlightened citizens protesting these restrictive laws by not slavishly obeying stop lights and such. Don’t tread on me.

The central issue is the driver. We penalize all drivers with restrictive laws, when the real problem is a small group of bad drivers. We even require good drivers to carry liability insurance. A logic inversion like this is a common mistake of the educated elite. All it takes is a little common sense to see the flaw in the logic. The answer is the severe punishment of bad drivers. I suspect that cutting off an offender’s gas pedal leg or cellphone hand or a sentence of death by rundown would stop a lot of the current nonsense.

There is hope. Thankfully, our current legislators have the courage to resist making talking-texting on a cellphone while driving illegal. Now, if we can only get our legislators to stop funding the collection of highway accident statistics or, even better, make it illegal. Data like this is used only to fuel more restrictions to our rights. Our legislators were able to restrict collecting gun violence statistics, so they ought to be able to do the same with highway accident statistics.

I urge all freedom-loving citizens to become active. Support the right legislators, ones who will help us regain our God-given rights as citizens of this great nation.

Weather Journal

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