My Government Makes Me

A brief essay on the mandatory seat belt law

The mandatory seat belt law imposed in Texas and thirty other states is unconstitutional. Primary and secondary seat belt laws directly conflict with the American concept of freedom. Laws like this are slowly working to strip us of our freedoms and regulate us into citizens that are easily controlled by the government.

Forty nine states have enacted laws that allow police officers to issue tickets to drivers and passengers not wearing a seat belt. These laws are devided into two categories: primary and secondary. A primary law, active in thirty one states, allows police officers to pull over and ticket individuals solely for not wearing a seat belt. A secondary seat belt law, active in eighteen states, allows officers to issue seat belt citations only if the individual is already pulled over for a different violation.

These laws are unconstitutional in the fact that they deny Americans a personal safety choice that directly effects no one but themselves. It’s not the government’s right to tell us what risks they can or cannot take with their own bodies. If that were the case then activities such as bungie jumping, sky diving, and even unprotected sex would be in danger of criminalization. Sure lives would be saved and injuries averted if all those things were illegal but at what cost? Over regulatory laws personal decisions for us are the most abundant form of oppression in the United States

Primary and Secondary seat belt laws are great examples of over regulatory laws that are eating away at our freedoms as American Citizens. The seat belt laws infringe on our American right to make personal decisions about our own safety. As over regulatory laws like these keep building in number, we will have less and less freedom. I urge anyone who takes pride in being an U.S. citizen to ask themselves when next they enter a vehicle: Am I buckling up to ensure my safety, or because my government makes me?