LEGISLATING

THE OBVIOUS

Wasting the People's Time and Tax Money is

Job One for Councilmembers, Legislators

A county government supposedly lacking funds for basic government functions has spent a fortune on an infantile "pedestrian safety" campaign.

Did we really need government to spend millions of dollars to tell us to look both ways before crossing the street?

Don't text (or read texts) while driving. Don't talk to strangers. Keep household chemicals and medicines out of the reach of children.

There either is a law for each of those common sense ideas, or there soon will be.

Now, who thought it was a good or safe idea to text while driving? It's something I've never done. And guess what? Nobody ever told me not to do it! I just use common sense about safe driving.

Like me, you can probably think of a long list of things one ought not to do while driving. It's a no brainer, as Dr. Weast says. Does this mean we'll have a new law for each one? Most outrageous, is the fact that it already was illegal to text while driving. If a police officer saw you driving down the street while obviously texting on a cell phone, and not looking where you were going, he or she could already have pulled you over and issued a warning or citation for a more general traffic offense. Do you seriously think it has been legal all this time for a driver to be in motion while fully engaged in another activity? If you aren't already, you should be insulted that your councilmembers and legislators think you are not only a child, but not smart enough to know existing law, and that they are pulling a fast one over on you!

Most political experts tell us there is a rash of these simpleminded laws because politicians have no more money to spend, and this is a cheap way to show they are "doing something."

But they would be wrong. Not only do these regulations - such as George Leventhal's restaurant "menu reform" and trans fat ban - cost businesses money, but the time, staff hours, and other associated legislative costs actually are costing the taxpayer. After all, we pay not only the legislators' salaries, but those of their staff, as well.

They believe you are incapable of making the basic decisions everyday life requires. Show them how skilled you are working the voting machine this November.