| COWBOY'S CORNER
The aftermath of the recent school murders in Colorado provides an interesting perspective on the late twentieth century American mind set. On the Sunday following the shootings, the Chicago Tribune ran eight Letters to the Editor on the subject. Nearly every one of them used the incident to promote a social or political agenda. (Interestingly, the one that didn't was from a high school student.) The television talking head shows were also filled with 'experts' offering their own 'solutions' to the 'problem.' Of course, none of these 'experts' agreed with any of the others. Add to this mix the politicians looking for sound bites, and all the lawyers who are trying to figure out who to sue (it's hard to collect from living teenagers, much less dead ones), and you have a situation where the media will probably be the only winners (guns and bombs mean ratings and increased sales), and the American people stand to be the next round of victims. We live in the era of the 'quick fix.' Take a pill, and you'll feel better fast. Pass a law, and miraculously all problems will disappear. It doesn't matter that these quick fixes generally treat symptoms, rather than actually solving problems. People want to feel better, and get on with their lives. You can see this mind set at work every day. School kids can't read? Give the teachers a raise. Never mind that many of our schools have been transformed into a combination babysitting service and soup kitchen (with a side order of free condoms.) A drug dealer shoots a rival? Prohibit honest citizens from owing guns. Who cares that criminals, by definition, break the law. Then there's my all-time favorite. A few years back, after someone discovered that small children can drown in pails of water, it was actually proposed that buckets which could hold liquid should be banned! Fortunately, this ultimate example of legislative absurdity did not pass. As motorcyclists, we run into this problem constantly. Among recent examples here in Chicago were several attempts to curb what some people considered excessively loud motorcycles, not by ticketing offenders, but by banning motorcycles outright on certain roads during certain hours. The latest attempted ban was on Lake Shore Drive, a Federal highway, even though this was a direct violation of Federal law. This misguided 'quick fix', if passed, would have cost Chicago millions of dollars in Federal highway funds. It also helped cost the bill's sponsor her seat on the City Council, as motorcyclists rallied to help defeat her in the recent elections. I don't pretend to have solutions for all the world's problems, but I do know that a 'quick fix', especially one arrived at under emotional circumstances, generally causes more problems than it solves. (Remember, Mussolini got the trains running on time, and Hitler solved Germany's inflation and unemployment problems, but at what a terrible cost!) We must always be on guard against those who would restrict our freedom, especially when they do it in the name of 'safety' or 'the children.' Cowboy |