As Americans, we cling to the idea that above all else, freedom and liberty of the individual must always remain our top priority. Without this as the bedrock, our economic disparity of wealth could mirror that of a third world country, we could owe more debt on our education than our credit cards or worse yet, we could become Canada.
Fear not, eh.
For the most part, (SOPA, Patriot Act, National Defense Authorization Act notwithstanding) America has indeed remained true to this notion. Land of the free, home of the brave.
Sometimes, our lawmakers are forced to pass or veto laws, bills or initiatives that may actually be beneficial to us, though, in the name of freedom, require some sort of decisive action.
Bringing this discussion into the local spotlight, the state House voted Monday to kill legislation that would have established Arizona's first statewide ban on texting while driving. The 31-28 vote came to the conclusion that such a ban would infringe unnecessarily upon the rights of the individual — freedom to the point of stupidity.
It could be argued that a ban on whom an individual may marry or a bill that gives police officers the right and authority to question the legality of your citizenship is of equal if not greater intrusion on the rights of the individual. But that is beside the point, we are talking about texting, not sexting.
We don’t need any more public service announcements from Justin Bieber to know that texting and driving isn’t a smart idea. The logic is simple: Driving safely requires paying attention to the road. Texting accurately requires (for most) paying attention to your phone. Mixing the two will result in a crash, an accident, more statistics, more tears … you get the picture.
Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, broke it down for the East Valley Tribune.
“People can multitask,” Kavanagh said. “I can talk on a cell phone and watch the road. I can eat a hamburger and drink a cup of coffee and still watch the road,” he said.
Kavanagh concludes that despite his ability to multitask, the key lies in one’s ability to watch the road.
“Anybody who is texting has their eyes off the road and it sometimes can be for a lengthy period of time,” he said. Kavanagh was in favor of the legislation.
We’re not here to say that you should be, too. That’s part of this whole “freedom” concept, you get to come to your own conclusions no matter how dangerous they may be.
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