Pelham NH To Consider Ban on Driving? - Granite Grok

Pelham NH To Consider Ban on Driving?

car-accident -Should Pelham NH ban automobiles?After years of watching citizens and tourists of all ages fail to properly operate motor vehicles–resulting in  millions of dollars in property damage, injury, and death, Pelham New Hampshire has opened a discussion about whether or not to ban driving in their town.

“Some of these accidents have scarred people for life, others have died,” said Kneejerk Reaction. “We just can’t let this continue.”

OK.  I’m kidding.  Sort of.  Pelham is having a conversation about whether or not to ban fireworks (as predicted) after an incident this past summer in which several people were injured, and some of them were, to quote the article, scarred for life.  While we wish the best for those affected, banning behaviors based on one incident like this is not wise.

Hey I slipped on a wet floor.  That’s it.  No more mopping!

Driving, for example, has been the number one cause of death for Americans aged three to thirty for the better part of a decade.  So why not ban that, or at least limit it in some way?  Why? It would be political death, not that control freaks don’t continue to pick at the edges regardless.  But Fireworks…?  Yeah, we can meddle with that.

Many public officials, whether elected or appointed,  have this  innate fear of inaction.  The lefty leaning ones more so that the right, but they all suffer from it.  When someone asks them what they have done for them, why a taxpayer should support them or listen to them, if there is no laundry list of good deeds readily at hand, they are afraid it will diminish their value.

Not so.  I pine for the official who, when asked says, “I kept the creeping bureaucracy off your back for another two years, or we did everything we could to improve efficiency so we could downsize and reduce costs to taxpayers.”  Or how about, “we found ways to let you make more decisions about what is important for you and our family.”  Here’s one you’ll never hear.  “The teachers Union has agreed to a contract in which teachers will pay for 2% more of their own benefits, so we can redirect that money to help pay for charter schools.”

I want representatives, regardless of level, to work as hard as they can to return as much power or authority downward as possible.  If it’s the federal government, how do we return it to the state; how do we leave more tax dollars there instead of looking for new ways to get credit for sending tax dollars back.

At the state level…how do we keep more money and authority at the county or town level, and at every level, how do we return the authority to the taxpayers, the residents, to people and families?  That’s what I want.  It is also, by the way, what the TEA Party Republicans want.  They believe in you.  They think you are the best judge of what is right for you and your family and your income.  And it is why they have tried to roll back regulations, taxes, fees, and spending.  You can’t make the right choice if the government gets in your way.

Pelham, regardless of their intentions, is thinking about getting in your way.  Is it becasue of a yearly list of problems and injuries related to fireworks?  No.  It is one incident, which happened to involve children, and the folks who are afraid to side with the kind of liberty and self responsibility that are the hallmark of New Hampshire values,  see an opportunity to appear to be doing something.  They see the chance to look busy.

The citizens of Pelham need to give those people a ‘Time out.’

As far as I’m concerned, if you want to purchase fireworks and have an annual display, celebrate a birthday, or just light a few off, talk to the retailer about safety, make sure you are familiar with what you are using and how it works, follow all recommended safety precautions, and have at it.  If it goes wrong, it’s your own damn fault.  If you are invited to such a display, same rules apply.  You choose to be there, it is assumed you come with the necessary knowledge, and in either case, you assume the risks for yourself and your family.  If that is to much for you to handle, move to Massachusetts, they are just aching to tell you how to live your life and then tax the crap out of you for the privelage.

 

 

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