For the past week or so I’ve been asking listeners to sign an online petition to ask the General Assembly to repeal the seat belt law they passed last year. So far we’ve collected a little over a thousand signatures and they’ve all been sent to the House and Senate Leadership in an effort to get this law removed. When I first started this push I had a very specific vision as to what the reaction of the people would be and was surprised when this simple issue turned into something that people have very passionate thoughts about, thoughts that really seem to have no relation to their stated political philosophy.

Here are some of the quotes that I’ve been receiving AGAINST the repeal of the seatbelt law:

“My stance is that I think it should be required by law that people should wear seat belts. Seat Belts save lives.”

 

“I support the seat belt law. If you don't wear a seatbelt, you're a freaking idiot and you deserve to be fined. They should suspend your driver’s license for thirty, sixty, ninety days for subsequent offenses”

 

“So when your thrown from your car and hopefully an innocent driver doesn't run you over and you ruin their life and by chance you live, and your insurance flips the bills for the rest of your life or better yet you don't have insurance I will be paying for your care for life.“

 

“I have no idea why you keep up with this - I had to change the station tonight - you can't talk people into thinking how you think. I agree with you about wanting to limit government involvement in our lives but enough is enough already.”

 

“The fine should be $500.”

These messages as well as some others were in the deep minority but the motivation behind them is what amazes me. Have we become so hateful of each other that we walk around assuming everyone is pretty much existing day to day barely able to make decisions to care for themselves? Have we been so brainwashed by the dependency culture in our society that we really believe that the government needs to be involved in personal decision making processes? Especially in ones that don’t impact others? I’m beginning to think that our attitudes toward each other are becoming a lesson in programmed elitism. With so many rules and regulations put into place to guide behavior the populace has decided to accept that everyone is too stupid to live. We walk around looking down on our fellow citizens as burdens to our existence rather then members of a community.  Watch out! Your stupid decision is about to cost me dearly!! This is a highly dangerous trend.

I believe that this cultural phenomenon is one that has been perpetrated and exploited by the political elites in order to pit us against each other to divide and control us. If we all respected each other as a matter of standard practice, respected intelligence, maturity, and basic common sense as the tools of the great majority then we would be less inclined to accept intrusive laws meant to supposedly protect us from one another.  Then we’d all be freer. It would also mean that the power brokers in control would have less sway over us as a people and would start to become confronted with a united front rather than a fractionalized mob.

Matt Allen | WPRO