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Fighting for car owners’ rights

It’s a matter of freedom.

I’m sick and tired of the government passing all these laws trying to make our society “safer” while all they do is restrict the freedoms of the law-abiding citizens they are supposed to serve.

That’s why I’m forming a new lobbying group: The National Automobile Association.

As founder/president of the NAA, I promise to represent the interests of all law-abiding automobile owners in Washington D.C. I pledge to do all I can to not only prevent future traffic laws from being passed, but repealing current ones as well.

Legislators have claimed traffic laws are needed to protect motorists from fatal accidents.

I don’t know about you, but I have never once seen a car start itself, back out of the driveway and race down the highway before causing a fatal accident.

Simply stated: cars don’t kill people, people kill people.

For no other reason, speed limits, traffic lights and stop signs are simply pointless. As evidenced by the tremendous number of car fatalities every year, these needless restrictions clearly don’t work.

History reinforces this assertion. Look at the number of automobile fatalities in 1912. There were just 2,968. By comparison, in 2011, there were more than 32,000 fatalities. Needless to say, there are a whole lot more laws, rules and regulations restricting our driving privileges in 2011 than 99 years earlier, so it stands to reason those laws are failing to protect our children and families.

But there’s another reason traffic laws are pointless. Clearly, criminals aren’t going to pay attention to them. The only people who will be affected by them are law-abiding citizens who are safe and responsible automobile owners. These automobile owners have driven their cars safely for years and shouldn’t have to be subjected to these restrictions because of the carelessness of the minority.

Instead, they have to drive slower while the criminal element around them drives at unsafe speeds, jeopardizing their loved ones’ lives. Obviously, the best and safest way to remove one’s family from a dangerous traffic situation is to drive faster. However, our government insists on preventing us from doing just that.

If you want to blame someone or some industry on fatal traffic crashes, you don’t need to look any farther than Hollywood and the mainstream media.

Starting with that rascal Speed Racer and through that vile Lightning McQueen, Hollywood has time and time again glorified and revered the irresponsible driver. I shudder to think about the number of accidents that can be blamed on Burt Reynolds and his Cannonball Run franchise.

But arguably the most disturbing aspect of the traffic laws is the vehicle registration system. On its surface, it would simply appear to be a logical, efficient manner to ensure vehicles are safe and owners are responsible and capable of safely owning and operating their vehicle.

However, I don’t believe it. I see this “registration” process as a simple ruse by our government so the liberals can more easily enact their hidden agenda of taking away our cars.

They have been pushing green, eco-friendly measures on us for years, starting with ethanol, then hybrids and even electric-powered cars. All of it is a simple assault on the gasoline industry in the name of saving the environment.

What they really want is all cars gone from the face of the planet. They won’t stop their attacks on our personal freedoms, be it alternative fuels or an extra stop light, until they have achieved this goal.

This country was founded on the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We are fortunate the Founding Fathers had unending foresight and knew one day we would be rocketing across this great nation in vehicles powered by hundreds of horses. They left us a road without Constitutional restrictions so we could pursue that happiness as quickly and recklessly as we pleased.

To do anything less than that would be un-American.

Gregory Orear is the publisher of The Journal. His award-winning weekly column, What’s Going On, has been published in four newspapers in three states for more than 20 years. He can be contacted at gorear@nujournal.com.

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