On This Week a commentator said that the [federal] government is like the city government that puts up a traffic light after there have been four accidents. I thought that was an interesting analogy. I'd like to extend that thought.
If the government is like the agency that puts up a traffic light after 4 accidents then Democrats are like the safety experts that declare that the one traffic light is not enough but that there ought to be traffic lights at every intersection, speed cameras, red light cameras and cops at every intersection. The speed limit ought to be dropped to 5 MPH anywhere a person could possibly be walking and mandatory psychological examinations should be given to anyone caught breaking the rules because clearly those people are maladjusted and need to be properly re-socialized . Because, by God, accidents are happening and we just can't have that.
Republicans are the people who, late to the scene have no clue why there is a light at the intersection and decide that it is a case of big government interfering with the public and therefore have the traffic light removed. When the accidents resume at a nice clip, they then point to the agency as an example of incompetent governing and why that agency ought to be abolished and if they are elected they will solve that problem.
Libertarians are the ones who say that the traffic light impedes on the right of the people to freely move about and therefore not only should the traffic light be removed but the street, sidewalk and related items ought to be removed as well and the citizens will have to pay for road and sidewalk immediately adjacent to their property, if they so choose, and can set whatever rules they want for their piece of road.
(17 years of informed commentary)
