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Protecting Individual
Rights And
Natural Law Copyright © 2002 |
The police chased and detained Local Group founder David L. Hunter on Saturday May 25, 2002. The police followed Hunter with sirens blaring and lights flashing, causing him to pull over on the side of a busy road. A police officer took Hunter’s identification and ran a police check. After several minutes of investigation the officer returned to Hunter, issuing him a ticket summons. An abbreviated version of what happened is below:
Officer: You are to appear in court on Tuesday July 2nd at 8:00 am.
Hunter: What crime did I commit?
The police officer kept one hand near his gun. His other hand reached in the car and pointed to a line item on the ticket. Hunter read the words: Driver without seatbelt.
The officer stated it was Zero Tolerance Week for motorists. He also said Hunter could find out the penalty for driving without a seatbelt by contacting town hall. The officer then released Hunter.
It is true that Hunter was not wearing a seatbelt when the police spotted him, thus making him guilty as charged. He has been penalized twice: one fine was $50 and another was a $35 surcharge. This is the price he has paid for driving without a seatbelt during Zero Tolerance Week.
He had to pay $85.00
for violating a non-objective law. And with the guns and judges against him, he
had no alternative but to pay the government for violating a non-objective law.
It is time to protect individual rights by rejecting non-objective law. Taking a principled stance against non-objective law as revealed in the letters below will weaken and then collapse bogus laws. By publicly challenging bogus laws rather than passively accepting them, citizens can take back their freedom they have surrendered throughout the years.
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David Hunter
PO Box 25505
Rochester, NY 14625
June 27, 2002
Re: Seatbelt Ticket
James S. Alesi
New York State Senate
Legislative Office Building Room 905
Albany, NY 12247
Dear James S. Alesi,
As a recipient of a seatbelt ticket, I would like to express my concern about this matter.
You see, I consider traffic laws to be valid because they protect citizens from other people who could harm or kill them. Traffic laws also enable society to function in an orderly fashion. Therefore, police and courts should enforce traffic laws.
However, when it comes to wearing a seatbelt, there is a fundamental difference. A driver who does not wear a seatbelt does not threaten anyone. The worst-case scenario of a driver not wearing a seatbelt is that he gets killed in an accident. But the driver should always have the right and freedom to choose if he wants to protect his own life.
It is important to realize that valid laws are based upon individual rights. This means laws should protect each citizen from harm and death by other people. But laws that dictate what a citizen must do for his own good are arbitrary; they are not based upon prior principles. Such arbitrary laws can be multiplied to steadily erode everyone’s freedom.
To sum up, traffic laws including traffic lights, traffic signs, speed limits and drunk driving laws are valid and should be enforced. They protect each citizen from other people and they enable society to function in an orderly manner. However, laws that mandate drivers to wear a seatbelt should not be enforced; they should be repealed. A person who drives without a seatbelt does not pose a threat to anyone else in the community.
Sincerely,
David Hunter
CC: Hon. David T. Corretore and Police Chief Gerald Pickering
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THE SENATE
STATE OF NEW YORK
JAMES
S. ALESI
Senator, 55th District
July 24, 2002
David Hunter
PO Box 25505
Rochester, NY 14625
Dear Mr. Hunter:
Thank you for contacting my office to express your views about New York’s seat belt law.
In 1984, New York State became the first state to enact a mandatory seat belt law. Each and every year more than 200 lives are saved and over 1,500 serious injuries prevented as a result of increased use of seat belts.
The laws of New York are designed to protect our individual freedoms as well as our collective rights. It may appear that the seat belt law deprives individual rights without a corresponding benefit, but this is not always the case. Unfortunately, there have been thousands of accidents in New York where drivers did not use their seat belt and became seriously injured. In many of these cases, taxpayers had to indirectly fund medical expenses, not to mention the emotional cost to society. Furthermore, car accidents that result in serious injuries raise the cost of automobile insurance for New York residents.
I appreciate you taking the time to contact my office about this important matter. In the future, if there is any other state government matter I can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact my office.
Sincerely,
JAMES S. ALESI
New York State Senator
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David Hunter
PO Box 25505
Rochester, NY 14625
August 8, 2002
Re: Individual Rights
James S. Alesi
New York State Senate
Legislative Office Building Room 905
Albany, NY 12247
Dear James S. Alesi,
Your response to my letter of June 27, 2002 was appreciated. It helped me understand your position regarding the New York State seatbelt law.
As a course of daily life we tend to make compromises in business and family matters. Sometimes we do this for mutual benefit; other times we do this because there is seemingly no better way. But when it comes to the protection of individual rights, there can be no compromises.
In your letter dated July 24, 2002, you justified the seatbelt law by stating, “Each and every year more than 200 lives are saved and over 1,500 serious injuries prevented as a result of increased use of seat belts.” You also stated that “taxpayers had to indirectly fund medical expenses” as a result of car accidents where drivers did not use seatbelts. And you stated “car accidents that result in serious injuries raise the cost of automobile insurance for New York residents.”
I do not doubt that wearing a seatbelt while driving can save lives, prevent serious injuries and keep insurance premiums down. That fact can be proven by statistical research. In fact, statistical research has proven that regular aerobic exercise can save lives and prevent serious illnesses. It is also a known fact that eating only healthy food can save lives, prevent serious illnesses and keep medical expenses down. So why do we not have laws to force New York State residents to run three days a week or eat fish and vegetables everyday?
The answer is obvious. The proper role of government is to protect the citizenry by enforcing only valid laws, i.e., laws based upon individual rights. When each individual citizen is protected, society will be safe. However, if government goes beyond protecting individual rights, then that government becomes predacious as it subverts natural law and erodes individual liberty.
In conclusion, I can compromise on various issues of daily life but I cannot compromise on individual rights. Rarely do society’s leaders take large steps to curtail individual liberty; this is usually done incrementally. Even Hitler’s totalitarian regime of National Socialism took away individual liberties in small increments. The result of course was inhumane living conditions. As long as I am alive, I will take a public stance against violations of individual rights. I would have done so in Nazi Germany and I will do so in America.
Sincerely,
David Hunter
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