Wednesday, July 07, 2010

In America, Childhood Is Eternal

As a kid, I knew the world was filled with things denied to me, but the grown-ups could have them whenever they wished. Deal was, one day I'd be grown-up too, and then I could set aside childish things and embrace adult ones instead. But they changed the rules by the time I grew up, and now America is the land of perpetual childhood. I discuss this over at the Guardian, with a special shout-out to that uniquely American brand of idiocy wherein ostensible adults brag about taking advice from children:

Consider Phillipsburg, New Jersey, where a classful of determined seven-year-olds started a campaign which 19 months later convinced state legislators to ban the sale of novelty lighters. The kids, of course, are proud of themselves, and the politicos are behaving as though it's reasonable and even admirable for middle-aged lawmakers to seek counsel from people who still worry about the monsters under their bed.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Cap'n NoStar said...

But, THINK OF THE ADULTS! If it will keep one drug addled adult from playing with a lighter that looks like a toy til he burns down the house, it will be worth it.

Well, thats the common arguement, It does ignore the thousands of lost jobs, and the added expense and taxes to enforce the law. Still that one life must be worth the millions the law cost, right?

3:35 PM  
Blogger Windypundit said...

Wow, the comments at the Guardian are much less aneurysm-inducing than usual. Maybe you're winning them over.

7:41 PM  
Blogger Chuck Pergiel said...

I am torn between being scathingly sarcastic and just screaming a stream of profanity. Teetering on the knife edge of civil discourse I will say that "Lehigh Valley Live" is a synonym for "Weekly Reader".

11:51 PM  
Blogger Kevin Carson said...

Back when Fayetteville, AR was preparing to vote on a restaurant smoking ban, this group called YouthCAN!, a bunch of kids, produced radio ads in favor of the ban. One of them was a maiter d' asking customers if they preferred the handwashing or non-handwashing section, and then people at a public swimming pool asked to choose the peeing or non-peeing area. In both cases, the bewildered person asked: "Isn't there some kind of a law?" Only a stupid liberal with the mental capacity of a used tampon would think "a law" could force restaurant staff to wash their hands or keep people from peeing in a pool.

12:08 AM  
Anonymous Tim S said...

Just a thought -- perhaps at one of those "click it or ticket" checkpoints a large number of drivers (it would have to be a huge number, and I'm not sure how the word could get out) agree to deliberately unfasten their seatbelt when they approach the officer, and then everyone refuse to pay the fine, making it a collosal headache for the authorities. I heard some folks tried that back in the '60s.

9:52 PM  

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