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                                                Thinking about Life and Death

Consequences: Traffic School

I went to traffic school. In California, tickets for minor moving violations (such as my failure to come to a complete stop at a STOP sign), can be dismissed by attendance of a seven-hour course at a state-approved traffic school. My own violation of the traffic law was not a conscious transgression; I have great respect for the law, and always try to observe speed limits and all other traffic laws. Rather, it resulted from sloppy driving habits, developed over a period of years.

Although I would have preferred to spend my Saturday elsewhere, I did benefit, particularly from the reminder of the consequences of my actions as a driver. While it is easy to rationalize unsafe driving practices, the severity of their potential consequences demands a rethinking of attitudes about driving. Videos shown during the course documented how blunders such as speeding, driving while drinking, and being distracted can lead to consequences such as severe injury, permanent disability and death.

During duller moments of the course, I mused: What if we could set up a traffic school for public officials, to show them in graphic detail the consequences of their policies, many of which were carelessly established in the name of cooperation and political expediency? Would it cause them to rethink their values and their approach to the legislative process? What types of consequences could be highlighted for various policies that "break" things?

  • Legalized abortion: Broken mother; broken baby.
  • Liberal welfare laws: Broken spirits; broken family.
  • Legalized gambling: Broken bank accounts; inmates (broken laws).
  • Liberalized drug laws: Broken minds; broken economy.
  • Legaled pornography: Broken innocence; broken bodies (sex crimes).
  • Liberalized divorce laws: Broken family.
  • Large governmental budgets: Broke family.
  • Liberal educational policies: Broken-down morality in the children.

To continue this exercise would be wasting time: Traffic school is already in session, but our legislators and judges are asleep at the wheel! These policies are already demonstrating their inevitable consequences, but few seem to be paying attention. Like the driver who rationalizes speeding by saying he is in danger of being late, our leaders rationalize their policies by saying they are in danger of not being reelected. For the driver, the responsibility to drive safely must, nonetheless, override the desire to get somewhere on time. Similarly, for the legislator or judge, the responsibility to conduct public policy safely must override the desire to be hailed in the press and reelected.

What about the rest of the citizenry--is traffic school in session for us? What are the consequences that we ought to consider for the following:

  • Spending hours parked in front of the television?
  • Cheating on taxes, employers, and insurance companies?
  • Failure to vote, and to stand up publically for what is right?
  • Investing in companies that promote social ills such as gambling, obscene entertainment and advertising, alcohol abuse, promiscuous sex, and homosexuality?
  • Teaching children how to "make it" in this world, while deemphasizing what is required to "make it" in the next?
  • Abdicating responsibility for our children 35 hours each week, enabling the social engineers of the public education system to mold, shape, and indoctrinate their next generation of recruits?

As I was encouraged to do in traffic school, we who care about the future need to contemplate the consequences of our sloppy living habits, developed over a period of years.

 

 

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