Britney Spears and Car Seats

Posted by John Crandall Jun 5, 2007

Britney said that she was just running from the papirazzi and did not have time to buckle her baby up. A U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary got into the act, and said Britney Spears was setting a bad example for her fans. He used the incident as an opportunity to try to pressure State Legislatures to pass more stringent car seat laws.

I know it's old news, having happened in 2006, but it relates to a discussion for my seatblet laws blog where I was asked did I support infant car seats. I do think it is a good idea to protect your children as much as possible from the dangers of our modern world, but I am old enough to remember when driving with your child on your lap would not have caused the slightest notice from most people. I, personally, support the parents rights to make decisions for their children, but I do understand that in the modern world which continues to move at a faster and faster pace the dangers are perhaps greater than they once were.

But I am, and always will be, opposed to the government making laws telling people what to do with their own life, liberty, and property, or interfering with their pursuit of happiness (i.e. their own safety, their right to sit in their own car unrestrained if it makes them happier, their indefeasible property rights in the seatbelt and car they own) when other people's safety is not involved. That is the key concept, from a legal standpoint, running stop signs is wrong, and there can be a law against it because it endangers others. Not wearing a seatbelt cannot be legally outlawed because there is no threat to the safety of others, just the free individual is involved, and he cannot be legally coerced to give up his rights by any power including, or perhaps especially, the federal government. The States are supposed to remain strong enough vs. the feds to protect our rights. I am not strongly opposed to infant car seat laws, but I am opposed to mandatory seatbelt laws, especially those which allow a person to be stopped by police for no other violation.

My opinions are based strictly upon valid Constitutional Law, and the idea that freedom for all is more important than the loss of a few to accidents while living as they choose. I am relalistic enough to realize that the big isurance company lobby is the driving force behind seatbelt laws, and federal highway funding cut threats from the federal level have forced State Legislatures to give in on this issue. It is a sad state of affairs for a country founded upon a beautiful concept of decentralized limited federal government when the laws of the State Legislatures are dictated from above for the financial benefits of a few super rich men, but then our republic has had several centuries to reach this level of foolishness. Wake up America, the parties in power (both of them) belong heart and soul to the big money interests, and are ceasing to care about even our Constitutionally guaranteed rights if important campaign funders will be let down.