Here’s another victory for big brother sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. Our apparently bored legislature just changed the booster seat law. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for child safety and I would welcome any effort by any group to encourag, educate, or invite parents to keep their children in car seats and boosters longer. My two oldest are old enough to not use boosters legally (or they used to be) but the still do because they like them so far. I would also be happy to see anyone who was making efforts to make booster seats available to people who wanted them but didn’t want to pay for them. What I don’t like is the idea that the government should enforce these suggestions. It’s my business if my kids ride in the bed of a truck, wear seat belts or handle knives at a young age. In fact, big brother should regulate government services before inviting himself into my car – why is it that I can be fined for having my kids in the wrong configuration of a car seat while schools are not even required to have seat belts available when they take 30 kids on a field trip in the school bus?
(Funny thing about using the term “big brother” for government – my big brother is a police officer. From now on I may start referring to government as “big bother.”)
[...] This is when government tramples the rights of individuals or lower levels of government. This happens so frequently in small ways that many people think it is how the system is supposed to work. [...]