Enough is enough

Published 1:09 am Friday, October 3, 2008

In Washington state there is currently legislation pending to enact a “Good Samaritan” law, which means you can be charged with a misdemeanor if you do not notify authorities of someone’s’ injury or endangerment.

Of course I would aid someone in distress, but if I didn’t, I don’t expect the police at my door! Just because we elect “lawmakers” doesn’t mean we want (or need) more petty penal codes. We already have laws against spitting on the sidewalk, unenforceable sodomy laws, even covenants stating what color you can paint your door, etc. When you back your car out of the driveway into the street, there are 13 possible violations, or as my policeman friend once said, “Nobody drives legal.”

Enough!

Does anyone else feel increasingly smothered beneath this litigious blanket? This will cost revenue to implement and enforce. It usurps cherished citizens’ values like independence and freedom, until we become mere drones in a tight box. (Makes me wan to bail out and head to the Yukon … Seattle’s Columbia Center has more lawyers than the entire country of Japan.) The more nitpicky, unenforceable laws we create, the more we diminish our respect for the legal system. The police and courts already have plenty to do.

If public safety and saving lives are of such paramount importance, may I suggest instead we begin with eliminating taxpayers’ subsidies for tobacco. Think about it.

Ralph Westermann

Fall City