By Scott Tibbs, January 31, 2012
The report in the Herald-Times on January 21 demonstrates that the increased effort to cite motorists for seat belt violations is about money, not about safety. The H-T reported an officer said "officers volunteer for the seat-belt duty and are required to make a certain number of stops to comply with the grant."
So there you have it. The purpose here is to get more overtime pay for police officers and more money in tickets for local government. When the nanny state regulates our behavior "for our own good" it is always about power and money, not about public safety. The fact that there are quotas for tickets proves this is a shadow tax increase.
We have become far too willing to allow government to micromanage our lives. It is incredibly foolish and stupid to not wear a safety belt. Had I not been wearing a safety belt a few years ago, I would have been seriously injured in an accident. But it should not be up to government to regulate private choices that only increase private risk and do not directly cause harm to other persons.
And what business does the federal government have in funding local government's efforts to squeeze money out of people who foolishly choose not to wear safety belts? Where in the Constitution is the federal government given this authority? Does not the Tenth Amendment reserve powers not specifically delegated to the federal government to the states or the people?
My pastor often says that when you eliminate God's moral law, you do not get fewer laws. Instead, you replace God's moral law with an infinite number of man's petty laws. It is beyond depraved that someone can be pulled over in front of 421 South College Avenue and fined for increasing risk to himself, but that same person can legally have her child murdered inside the Planned Parenthood building at that address.
