I’m not one to rain on anyone’s parade when it comes to personal freedom as I believe everyone should have the right to do as they wish with their lives as long as it doesn’t interfere with anyone else.
The helmet law in California, and various other states, for motorcyclists is a good example of government making a decision for you because you’re not bright enough to decide for yourself. Just to get it out on the table I think every adult should be able to make up their own minds on if they want to wear one or not. I personally dislike the helmet law on the grounds that, to me, it’s the government encroaching on our personal freedom to choose; like it says in the Declaration of Independents Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
To me the helmet law is an unnecessary law that steps all over our unalienable right to liberty. If I want to risk death, brain damage, etc by not wearing a helmet when I ride that should be up to me. I know that proponents of the law say that not wearing a helmet poses a burden on our healthcare system by forcing the taxpayers to support those that end up being vegetables etc. If they were honestly that concerned about it why not force everyone that drives a car to wear a helmet? You run a serious risk of a head injury when you drive and I’m betting there are a lot more head injuries every year as a result of automobile accidents then motorcycle accidents. The reason I believe they don’t try to create such a law for automobile drivers is that even though they want you to wear one they don’t want to wear a helmet when they drive their cars.
As our personal freedoms are slowly and methodically stripped away we become more a nation of sheep that forget what it’s like to be able to choose how we want to live our lives and happy with just going to work nine to five then coming home to a microwave dinner. After dinner then plopping our ever expanding fat asses down in front of the boob tube for a few hours of mind numbing TV before going to sleep then doing it all over again the next day. The whole thought of that type of existence should scare the hell out of people but I’m betting most people don’t even give it a second thought.
We need to maintain as many freedoms as we can if we want to hold onto our individuality as a person and as a people. This nation wasn’t founded because we were happy following British rule it was founded because we weren’t and we wanted our freedom to choose for ourselves how to live our lives.
For me the helmet law shouldn’t be a law but rather a suggestion. I personally prefer to ride without a helmet because for me riding is all about the freedom of body and soul. I would suggest though that if you’re going to ride wear decent clothing that will at least present some defense against cheese grater asphalt should you go down and for God sakes stop wearing flip-flops!! -HD
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