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7/15/2008
Burri: Give me liberty or give me...?
DePere students have been subjected to random drug tests over the past year, and officials there say the program is working. Helping reduce drug and alcohol use among those students. Or, at least, it seems that way.
Question: is that a standardized test? Because those are supposed to be bad.
Okay, that was a cheap shot. Back to the testing. Stories like these give the civil libertarian in me the willies: forcing people – even if they are minors – to prove they haven’t done anything wrong, even when they're not suspected of wrongdoing. It goes against the grain.
But, ah, shrug. What’s the big deal? A quick test, and maybe we can intervene before some kid ruins his life. Maybe the threat of being found out will make some kids stop, or not start. At the very least, it’ll keep kids who are drinking from coming to the school dances and giving us that headache.
Placed against the possible benefits, it’s awfully little to pay. Isn’t it?
Sure. It's much the same with random traffic stops. Yes, they're inconvenient. No, it doesn’t seem right. But it’s really very little, isn’t it? And it could do a lot, couldn’t it?
So what the heck. Give up a little autonomy for the greater good, why dontcha?
It’s always a little tricky, expressing disapproval of things like that. Because the loss of autonomy – the loss of freedom, really – seems so little, compared to the benefit. Opponents are stuck with the Slippery Slope argument. If this, why not that?
Well, why not? If we can do random drug tests, why not random interviews? Why not random lie detector tests? Why can’t we ask students whether they know anyone who’s used an illegal drug in the past month?
Why can’t authorities go that far, when we already let them go this far?
Pro-big-government types hate this kind of argument, because, come on, this really is a little thing. A little, simple, good-intentioned and positive thing, and here you're turning it into the Great Commie Invasion.
You’re being ridiculous!
Probably, yes. Still. Thomas Jefferson, founder of today’s Democratic Party, once said:` “As government grows, freedom recedes.”
It’s a zero-sum game. Every time we cede a little more authority over our lives, that’s a little less autonomy each of us has. Every time we extend restrictions on smoking, we’re giving the government the moral right to monitor our health. Every time we extend requirements for seat belts, helmets, airbags, we’re giving the government authority to tell us what to do to. For our own good.
Every time we allow the government to take a little more money – no matter how good the reason is – we’re giving up that little bit of freedom that having our own money gives us.
Maybe I am being ridiculous. Maybe I am taking this too far.
If so, well, I'll sleep in tomorrow. That'll help. Still. Real freedom means freedom to do the wrong thing. We might make bad choices. We might screw up, and go too far.
There are down sides. Pitfalls. Freedom of speech means letting the Nazis march and the Westboro Baptist Church protest at soldier funerals. Maintaining our individualism means, maybe, smoking too much and not wearing a helmet.
Yes, we'll help out when you crash, because we're a compassionate society, and because – I hope – we'd rather deal with the cost than let Big Brother tell us what to do.
But we have to realize that we have this choice: we can be a free society, or we can let the government protect us from ourselves.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and occasionally blogs at his own site as well.
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| 2009 |
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• The Lawton-Bader files
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• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
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• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
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• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
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• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
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• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
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• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
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• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
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• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
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• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
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• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
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• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
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• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
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• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
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• Lots of ideas. No money.
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• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
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• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
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• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
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