Governor Corzine, Get Well Soon

Governor Corzine of New Jersey shows us how dangerous freedom can be. While the Governor recuperates in critical condition at a New Jersey hospital, we will doubtless begin to hear how important it is to wear our seatbelts. The Nanny State will use his injuries as a club to enforce restraints on us, for our own good.

Let me preface what I have to say by expressing my hope that the Governor's injuries are not as serious as they could be, and the he has a speedy recovery.

A State Trooper carrying Governor Corzine may have allowed the Governor to ride in his vehicle without wearing a seat belt, in possible violation of New Jersey law. A friend of the trooper told a local newspaper about him:

"He's always been very righteous and idealistic, but in a good way. Very moral, lots of integrity," Gonzalez said. "I think he felt like that was his opportunity to contribute."

Perhaps the Governor was in the back seat, as a chauffered passenger would often be, or had temporarily unfastened his seat belt for some reason.

Columnist John Cichowski says there are three classes of people who don't wear seat belts, Stupid People, Privacy Zealots, and Elivises:

According to several biographies, no one, including his doctors, dared restrain the King of Rock-and-Roll from sticking heroin-filled needles in his arm. Likewise, no one dares tell some ranking politicians, billionaires and radio shock jocks that they must change destructive lifetime habits -- until it's too late.

A high-stakes Wall Street achiever such as Corzine wouldn't be the first governor or former U.S. senator to qualify as an Elvis. In his rarefied view from the front seat -- with its mad dashes to Cabinet meetings, news conferences, fund-raisers, political rallies and talk shows -- a comfortable, belt-less chat with an aide in the back seat can easily be seen as a calculated risk worth taking.

How does all of this fit together?

No matter how serious the Nannies become about wearing seat belts, the Nannies will hold their leaders exempt. To protect us, it seems, those in power must have freedoms the protected do not. And Governor Corzine will be given as the prime example. Rather than simply saying "See, this is dangerous, do it at your own risk", the Nannies will push for even more protection, even more invasion of our inherent right to be stupid, privacy-zealous Elvises.

A life without risk is a life without reward.

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