ND House Comittee Dares To Question The Wisdom Seventh Graders
Don’t these idiots know that the children are our future?
BISMARCK - Athough the bill that would ban smoking in cars when children younger than 16 wasn’t debated in the House on Tuesday, it was on the calendar with a “do not pass” recommendation from the House Transportation Committee.
“I was surprised at how it came out,” said Sen. Stan Lyson, R-Williston, who sponsored House Bill 2070 on behalf of a group of seventh-grade students from Williston.
Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said the committee appreciated the great job the students did presenting the bill but said the majority of the committee members felt that the bill would be taking a step toward infringing on the rights of people in their personal vehicles. They gave the bill the “do not pass” recommendation by a vote of 7 to 6.
Is it good to smoke in your car? Not really. Is it good to smoke in your car with the kids in there with you? Not at all. But, put simply, the government does not exist to protect us from ourselves. Nor does it exist to raise our children for us.
This bill was written and submitted, by way of Senator Lyson, by a group of seventh graders. Perhaps the most important lesson for these youngsters should be what the appropriate limits of government are. And that freedom doesn’t just mean the freedom to do good, productive things but also sometimes stupid and unhealthy things too.
That’s an important lesson to learn, but somehow I get the feeling that the people organizing those kids aren’t going to teach it. Which is a real shame.
