When our children were learning to drive, we had a clear understanding with each of them. It went something like this: "Junior, you're about to take on a serious responsibility. Not only are you responsible for your own life, you're also responsible for the lives of others in the car and on the road. If you opt to drive dangerously, to break the laws, and to break our trust in you, you will pay. Oh my, yes, you will pay dearly."
Along with the driving privilege came other expectations. Juniors and Juniorettes were expected to keep their grades up. They had a curfew that if broken, had an established, painful consequence. If they received a ticket, they paid the traffic fine, in addition to the surefire 'hell to pay' at home.
Now, where am I going with this? What does this have to do with government regulation?
A car is a great blessing if used properly. It's also a tremendous responsibility. Without regulation, a car can become a volatile weapon, a tool of destruction, and an indiscriminate killer. A split second in a car can change the lives of families and friends forever. How silly would it have been if we, as parents, had meekly handed over the keys to our children without setting a standard of proper behavior? Who would have called that decision wise? Who has children who would have governed themselves in a mature way, even teaching themselves to drive? If so, send your children our way. We had terrific children and they all needed to be taught, tried, and tested in the furnace if affliction before they became fully trustworthy and responsible drivers.
As I have closely followed the great debate surrounding gun violence, I have noticed a clear pattern among gun rights enthusiasts. The majority are adamant in their refusal to be regulated, yet they are the very people who have made government gun control and gun regulations necessary. How have they done that? Through irresponsible gun ownership on the part of a few. How is it responsible to purchase a deadly weapon online, from a private home, out of the trunk of a car, or at a gun show without a background check? What does it speak of one's character when just days after the massacre of little children, he is trumpeting his "constitutional right" to bear any imaginable kind of deadly weapon and ammunition magazine, completely ignoring little children's constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Those 'pesky' gun registration laws aren't for the arrogant few. It cramps their style. Our big, bad government has no choice but to step in and teach gun owners that along with ownership comes a singular obligation to register firearms, lock up firearms, and demonstrate an adult responsibility regarding gun ownership. It was sickening to see the sight of empty shelves and the news of booming ammunition and gun sales before the little Sandy Hook children were even buried.
Government regulation is in our lives because as a people, we have amply demonstrated through our lack of self restraint and good sense that we need them. Regulations on Wall Street were steadily eroded and ignored until in 2008, we stood on the abyss of a depression that would have made 1929 look like a walk in the park. Power Brokers and Hedge Fund Managers were given the car keys without a commensurate accountability and they nearly drove our financial cars off of the cliff. Many of us will never have the time to recover from what we lost in that debacle.
From the pollution of our rivers and streams by the "Don't Tread On Me" types, to the pollution of the air we breathe, there is a vocal minority among us who insist on behaving like selfish little children. Their world encompasses the narrow clutches of their own demands, their own needs, and their own arrogant, ignorant, paranoid world views.
So, why do we need government regulation? Because we lost the right to govern ourselves when we believed that our personal stampede in the pursuit of personal freedom trumped the personal freedoms and rights of others. If we don't want to be treated like children, then perhaps we should stop the bellicosity and put on our 'big boy' hats. That will, of course, involve a recognition that we're all in this together.
