...but you have absolutely no right to tell someone else what they can and can't do. Kind of a no-brainer to me.
Yes, but then why can't we apply that to other points of government? Thats all it really is, a group of utterly unqualified people (do you really think they know everything about ag, transportation, foreign policy, budgeting, chemicals, etc, that they vote on?) making decisions that change what choices you have, or limit what you can or cannot do.
Let me give an an example of the horribly f'ed up reasoning that go through some of these peoples brains.
Recently in Sacramento, a 16 year old girl died in a car accident. The report indicated that she was driving recklessly and heavily intoxicated late at night. After looking at her phone, it was determined that she had been text messaging just prior to the crash that would take her life. The mother indicated, at the end of the article that this was published in, that texting while driving is dangerous, and that is why her daughter died.
Really? I mean, really? It wasn't because your 16 year old was an inexperienced driver driving at night (that isn't legal in California within the first 6 months to first year you have your license), or because she was speeding, or because she was drunk? No,
obviously it was because she was text messaging!
Heres another example, from a bill which passed the California State Assembly (where I worked this summer).
Not too long ago, at the Great America theme park in San Jose, a 4 year old boy drowned in the wave pool. His mother did not get him a life vest, which was available, and he wasn't a good swimmer (or couldn't swim, I forget the details on this one). The mother also left the boy alone in the pool, she went to get a bag of chips.
Now, because of her failures to protect her offspring, the state has laws on the books (or will, depending on what Arnold has signed or not) that regulate how wave pools must be run. They must sound a horn 15 seconds before any wave action. They must forcibly provide a life vest for each child under 42 inches accompanied by an adult
into the park where they have a wave pool. And if a child who is under 42 inches tries to enter the park (not the pool), they will be denied entrance.
Now, I understand this is a huge, ongoing, and never going to end debate, but tell me, is that really the purpose of government?