Legislating Good Behavior, To What Extent?

THE NUMBER OF TRAFFIC FATALITIES in America was roughly the same in 2010 as it was in 1960. Amazing, when you consider the increase in population and cars over that fifty year period. The number is about forty thousand or so. Basically, its an annual slaughter all over the world. One hundred thousand a year in China, eighty thousand a year in India, maybe a million humans killed in traffic accidents annually in the world. The advent of computer driven cars will put an end to all that. Several reasons contribute to the per capita decrese in auto fatalities. Care are made better, easier to control. Seatbelts are now worn by everyone, under threat of harsh penalties. Plus, drinking and driving has become so heavily stigmatized and prosecuted that drunken fatalities are declining. Society is now attempting to nip the driving while texting craze in the bud before it really gets off the ground; good luck with that. Studies indicate that when texting is prohibited by law, the practice decreases for a short time, then rises back to pre prohibition levels, when motorists realize how easy it is to get away with it. Its crazy what people are willing to do while driving a car. Applying make up, eating, drinking, texting, conversing, daydreaming..the list of distractions is endless, and there is no way the law can be used to stop much of it. Except maybe a general law making it illegal to have a wreck, no matter the cause. We really do not want people in uniform monitoring every single thing we do behind the wheel, any more than we want our phone calls tapped and our wallets scanned by radar. Something like sixty percent of the Amercian people believe that businesses should be allowed to refuse service to gay people, or to anyone they choose, without being required to abide by non discrimination laws. Thus, we see in American culture just a trace of libertarianism. We know that there is a limit to which good behavior can be legislated into existence, because we know that even in a place like New York City, you can buy two sixteen ounce drinks, perfectly legally, instead of one thirty two ounce monster, which would be a violation of law.