An old joke goes like this:
"What are dirty pennies made of?"
"Dirty copper!!"
I am reminded of this when I see police doing D.U.I sobriety checkpoints. It reminds me of the checkpoints you see in communist countries. You have all sorts of cops liked up with lights, flares. They have flashlights to shine in your eyes, and chase cars to chase you down when you try to turn around.
D.U.I checkpoints have been getting more and more widespread as victims of drunk driving accidents get more vocal through groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Their persistence has paid off though lower Blood Alcohol Content laws and increased monitoring, fines, and prosecution of impaired drivers.
It used to be that these checkpoints were only seen on major roads or high traffic areas, but now in much of rural America the cops are targeting the less driven roads looking for the drunk there.
Beginning last weekend, teams of state police are roaming the back roads of the county, seeking drunk drivers who think they are smart by staying off the main highways.The state police have created the DUI Crash Reduction Initiative, involving municipal police, state alcohol prevention organizations and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).
The small effort is worth it. DUIs are preventable.
“The senseless loss of life — it’s tragic,” he said. “There’s nothing like having to knock on a door at 2 a.m. to explain to someone their loved one died. It gives everyone an overwhelming sense of grief.”One such crash haunts him, he said. A father, who was drunk, crashed. As he lay dying, his 7-year-old son was “crumpled in a heap” on the front seat.
“Just to hear (the boy) scream,” Blugis said. “We were trying to keep him calm while his father died beside him until the EMS got there. It was the longest five minutes of my life.”
A typical ploy of people who wish to infringe upon liberties or win court cases is to use emotional polys. Bringing up sob stories of some boy who lost his father in an accident or of a girl who died on prom night are no different than the lawyer who claims to be speaking for an unborn child in a court case or of calling Jews rats who are taking your jobs. It creates a demon to target. A drunk driver, a big corporation, or a whole race of people.
But what about the other countless accidents caused by fatigue, perscription medecine, or talking on the cell phone? Data show that more people are killed due to tired or distracted drivers than there are from drunk drivers. According to Neil Porter, Utah Highway Patrol: “Fatigue is becoming the greatest killer in fatal accidents that our Utah Highway Patrol troopers are investigating."
The thing which is the motivating factor for going after drunk drivers goes beyond arresting drunk drivers. It is part of a larger picture of MADD being a driving force for a modern temperance movement. MADD founder Candy Lightner broke ties with the group in the 1980s due to its attitude. In 2002, she told the Washington Times that MADD "Has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I had ever wanted or envisioned ... I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving."
Even Al Franken has said MADD "has turned into the new 'Women's Christian Temperance Union.'
But through using emotional ploys and pushing incrementially stronger laws against drinking and driving MADD is eroding civil liberties supposedly for our own good. And the erosion of civil liberties will not stop at sobriety checkpoints or lower BAC limits. Just like tobacco has been demonized so much that you can't have that legal product in any business in states like California or New York, soon you will see that push for Alcohol.
The only thing that is taking so long to push for alcohol bans is that alcohol is more popular. It's easier to bash smokers. But with enough sob stories by MADD and their money gruggin police counterpoints (who love the revenue-fines can run $2,000-$5,000) soon the tide will turn. For those of you who say it won't happen just have to look at history to see what happened in the past.
