Seat-belt law part of government's oppressive tyranny

I have recently encountered the dreaded seat-belt enforcer. Although I have no desire to re-enact a battle that was lost a long time ago, I somehow failed to appreciate the depth of my criminality.

Instead of criminal remorse, I felt violated. Instead of gratitude, I felt as though I had been accosted by a roadside bandit relieving an old guy of his Social Security money.

Those who support this indignity are welcome to employ such devices (don't get me started on air bags), but the debatable question remains: Can we be coerced by the state to comply?

Whenever I run afoul of the thought/behavior police, I enjoy a visit to my favorite C.S. Lewis quote: "Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated: but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

We've come a long way from "Thou shalt not kill" to "Click it or Ticket," and it's been mostly downhill.

Roy Baggs

Bradenton

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Seat-belt law part of government's oppressive tyranny ."