Natural Resources Police fined two men who helped rescue a deer trapped in a frozen river because they were not wearing life jackets aboard their inflatable boat, but the duo said they’d do it again if they had to.
via 2 Fined For Deer Rescue Say They’d Do It Again – Baltimore News Story – WBAL Baltimore.
Who Owns You? The only moral justification for fining someone for not wearing a life jacket is if they are the property of the state. It is the same with seat belt and helmet laws. Who owns you? Legislators think they do. Just because something is a good idea doesn’t mean that it is ethical to use the police power of government to make it happen. This is the kind of ‘soft tyranny’ that Tocqueville noted, it allows for bigger and bigger encroachments on Liberty. Now it is to the point that some people now actually think it is reasonable to force people to buy health insurance. Only a few years ago the idea would have been laughable.
