I oppose the use of driver's licenses as, or with, voter ID cards. I oppose electronic chips in driver's licenses that can be read from sensors several feet away. I oppose license-check roadblocks set up by rural police presumably as a source of local income. There are a lot of things involving driver's licenses that I do oppose.Republican Georgia state legislator Bobby Franklin thinks that driver's licenses impose undue restrictions on the right of citizens to travel. So he's proposed legislation to stop the state from issuing them.
"Free people have a common law and constitutional right to travel on the roads and highways that are provided by their government for that purpose," Franklin's legislation states. "Licensing of drivers cannot be required of free people, because taking on the restrictions of a license requires the surrender of an inalienable right."
In an interview with CBS Atlanta News, Franklin claimed driver's licenses are a throw back to oppressive times.
"Agents of the state demanding your papers," he said. "We're getting that way here."
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But if you propose to use a multi-ton implement with lethal potential even in the course of everyday use, you should have no objection to the government's testing to make sure you can use it properly and know the traffic laws. Anyone who has ever driven in Houston can understand why I am so insistent on this simple safeguard: once in their lives, if no other time, drivers must prove they can use their vehicles safely. Only a nut would see this as a constitutional issue.
Indeed!!!!! The guy is definitely a few bricks shy of a full load. He probably also believes in the Tooth Fairy.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son started driving, he scared me to death. My daughter on the other hand, was a natural driver -- a rare breed. I wish I could say it was a gender thing but I was an awful driver in my misspent youth. I didn't allow them to take the school's driver's ed class and we paid for private classes without distractions. I think it was money well spent as we never had any major problems. We also stressed that driving is a privilege -- not a right.
Steve -- I've driven in Houston. I haven't seen that requiring driver's licenses has made one bit of difference in keeping blind, stupid, incompetent drivers off the road. Because a) the state hands the damned things out like candy, and b) folks who want to drive simply drive, period, without regard to whether they have a license or not, including some folks whose driver's license was taken away from them years ago because they habitually drive drunk, blind, or both.
ReplyDeleteThat said, other legislation this dingleberry has introduced makes it clear he's a few bricks shy of a full load of marbles, so yeah.
- Badtux the Licensed Penguin
Kay - thank the good Dog, I don't have any children... any who chose me as a parent would be in for a helluva ride, and I don't mean in a car!
ReplyDeleteMy father taught me to drive. Both my parents were fairly decent drivers, but Mom was the sort who would have had a heart attack straightway if she had had to teach me. Hiring driving instruction outside of school was not an option; a schoolteacher wasn't... and isn't... paid that kind of money.
After I got my license, it was several years before I was routinely allowed to take the family car out, always for a specific purpose. I got through that period unscathed. Once I was out on my own, I had two minor accidents, one of which was undeniably my fault; I learned from it that I shouldn't drive when I was low on sleep. Again thank goodness, since then I haven't had any accidents, though there were plenty of opportunities had I not been exceptionally quick at reacting to dangerous circumstances and avoiding collisions.
BadTux - you're right, of course. Many Houstonians seem to agree with Rep. Franklin that a license is simply too much to demand of a citizen who wants to drive. The one thing this attitude assures is that auto insurance will always be a lucrative business in Texas, as drivers w/o licenses find themselves forced to sign up AND buy insurance to regain their driving privileges, or sometimes to avoid going to jail. But there doesn't seem to be any second-level teaching effect: you can force one driver to get a license and insurance without having the least bit of effect (I almost said "impact," but that's not quite right) on any other driver. I'm still scared to drive here, and having to use a hand control does not improve my frame of mind on the road!
ReplyDeleteIt's probably the requirement that you sign it that is giving Legelizard Franklin a fit. There are only so many ways you can write an "X".
ReplyDeleteGetting a driver's license in Florida is oppressive and expensive because the moron's went along with the Hedgemony's REAL-ID security theater.
My Mother just got hers renewed and I was worried she was going to do serious bodily injury to someone at the tax office with her cane before the whole thing was over.