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Originally Posted by bmussatti
OK, maybe I'm naive, but why should I care about someone knowing were I am and how I got there?
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Hi,
Your cavalier attitude towards this is quite a surprise to me. You should care because it is
your responsibility as a citizen to
jealously defend the rights so many people who have gone before both strove and fought for.
True, it may not affect you, but you don't have the right to surrender it on behalf of others.
All intrusions into personal liberties have begun under the guise of something good such as Public Safety. Even the Nazi persecution of the Jews, Gypsies, Clergy, Handicapped and Homosexuals began as an interpretation of their existing legal system. That's how it took hold - it was sanctioned in Law.
And, both the Times and the Public are fickle, that is what may seem warranted today may be unecessary or unwise in the future. Take the Volstead Act (Prohibition) as an example.
I personally believe the country would be better off with a Ban on Handguns, that they do more Bad than Good. But in a discussion with a like-minded friend a few weekends back, I actually defended the practice.
My friend cited that the right to bear arms stemmed from the fact that at the time, the British had been comandeering homes and property at will and that citizens needed to defend them. But, he stated that this time had passed and therefore the need for bearing arms had become obsolete.
I argued that while he was essentially correct, that we no longer need to defend our homes and property from the govenment. But, what of the future? Who can say that this need won't arise at some future time? I believe that troublesome as this right to bear arms is in current times, that abolishing it would be even worse.
The same holds true of the fundamental right to privacy. In my lifetime, this right has been chipped away, slowly. I didn't need a Social Security Card as a kid, only when I enetered the Workforce. The Gov't. didn't access my Bank data to insure I was paying my Taxes, the Gov't. trusted it's citizens to rightfully support the Country. I didn't spend on average 6 hrs a day on some video camera somewhere. And, none of these things has made the country either better, or safer. No Privacy issues have been added, only taken away. This is another example which could have far reaching consequences, not only for Driving, but perhaps in many other facets of everyday life.
Suppose the Gov't. were to mandate EDRs in Refrigerators which read the bar codes of all the groceries you buy? Now suppose this data were accessed to determine what Social Security or Medicare benfits you should receive? You bought too much Bacon - sorry, Medicare won't cover any Cardiac, Stroke, or Circulatory medications or therapies because you did it to yourself! And, as these EDRs become more commonplace, the Gov't. won't even ask your permission anymore.
NO - Government does not have the right to usurp your liberties! And for what? So some Corporations can make more profit?
They get away with it because people are either too
apothetic or too
stupid to to realize the implications both near and long-term and fight for these rights. Once they're taken away, it will be near impossible to get them back!
What we need is to kick Socials Studies out of all the school ciricullums and reinstate Civics or Government Classes as a
requirement. Chr*st, the people who best know how this country and government works are the immigrants trying to become citizens, they need to pass a test.
This is a bad piece of legislation and we should all take the time to write and oppose it. The Motoring Public has done quite nicely in the past 100 years without EDRs. It is an intrusion, it will up the price of vehicles, and it's only purpose is to make more profit for Corporations and allow the Gov't. to keep closer tabs on you, whether you're one of the Bad Guys or not!...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99