Re: SEAT BELT LAW UNCONSTITUIONAL: Constitutional Law Campfire
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I truly believe that the seat belt law is the most blatant unconstitutional law ever written.
Here are my reasons:
1. It is unconstitutional due to the fact that it inhibits your freedom of speech and expression.
2. Laws are designed to protect people and property from others. A person's choice in not wearing a seat belt is only affecting that person. The seat belt law and the motorcycle helmet law are the only laws I know that have ever been written that only affect the person making the choice. There are those that argue that an uninsured person who is injured is a drain on society if not wearing a seat belt and injured. If that is a true justification than we should outlaw tobacco, alcohol, big-macs, twinkies, cheese-fries, pizza, all sports, etc. This may sound ridiculous but then again so is the argument.
3. The law is basically telling people that they are too stupid to know when to wear a seat belt. Government statistics will tell you that you have better chances of survival in a wreck if you are wearing your seat belt. Therefore adults should have the choice of wearing the seat belt. Having worked in Fire and Rescue and Law Enforcement for 14 years I will tell you that people die with or without their seat belts on. This law reminds me of when the government forced "flicted" adults to be sterilized in the early 20th century in Lynchburg, VA so they would not re-produce. That is immoral and unethical.
In closing I have had an aunt killed in an auto accident orphaning a 14 and 12 year old. She was wearing a seat-belt, but all it did was hold her in place as she was hit head-on and crushed to death. A seat belt is not the holy grail to surviving an auto accident. I wear one most of the time, however I do not feel that it is the government's place to force you to do something that only affects you and you alone. We live in the greatest nation ever conceived and it was founded on rights and freedoms. Fortunately we all have the freedom to express our thoughts, and this is an issue that I feel strongly about.