New law being pondered for NJ town....

If I was endangering my children....then No I would have no problem. Well that isn't entirely true, because if I was dumb enough to be endangering my children, I guess I would be dumb enough to not think I was doing anything wrong. Then I would be dumb enough to think that the government was out to get me.
 
But I think the point of this discussion is to wonder "where does it all stop?" Maybe I don't like something you do and I think I need to "protect" you from it so I start legislating what you can do and cannot do. I think most people would agree that smoking particularly in front of the little ones is abhorrent but where do we draw the line? When does common sense come into play?

It's not black and white either (legislating smoking is not the same as dealing with a pedophile which has its own vast set of issues). There are lots of shades of gray but when we try to legislate everything we become a society of dolts who cannot think for themselves. Combining this with decreasing personal privacy is scary and if I knew what I know now back in 8th grade when I read 1984 I would have been shakin' in my Converse.
 
I totally see what you are saying with drawing the line and common sense. But that is the problem, it seems that an awful lot of people lack common sense these days. And that is where what I said in my previous post about people taking responsibility comes into play. And I disagree with you about smoking and pedophiles not being in the same catagory.....in fact chances are you are going to do more harm to that child smoking in front of them, then the pedophile actually preying on them.....fact of the matter is, why wouldn't you give up "rights" to protect your children.
 
Bravo! Beavs is right; it is not black and white. I fought for this country for six years in the military and I believe that I fought for the freedoms we hold dear. I am quick to protect them now. I understand that this is a complex problem but I don't believe that the government should interject themselves into every facet of my life. I don't need protection against myself. If I did, I would be either in a funny farm or jail already. Seriously, I would agree that legislating everything is just plain stupid.
 
But this isn't about protecting you from yourself...it's about protecting your child that can't protect themself from the second hand smoke.
 
Slimmingmom, for me the "bigger picture" is freedom. Freedom is the most precious thing we Americans have. Just look how scarce it is in other countries. Absolutely frightening.

If a child is living in an abusive home, state law allows the child to be removed from the home and even allows the parent to lose his/her parental rights. But it makes no sense for the government to micro-manage parenting. If you're unlucky enough to be born to parents who put their desires before your needs, the government can't really change that unless the behavior rises to the level of abuse necessary for child services to take action.

Guaranteed a parent who smokes in a car with little kids is doing a lot more stuff inside the privacy of his/her home that we all would find abhorrent. But, like Beavs says so well, where do you draw the line? To me, that's the big picture.
 
I really do see your point slimmingmom but I am still hung up on where to draw the line. Should parents be considered criminal for not putting their kids to bed on time, for letting them watch tv when in my opinion they should be reading or exercising, or feeding them junk food? What about when they pull an Alec Baldwin?
 
Hooray! No nastiness so far!:)

I have a bit of discomfort with the government taking up certain matters. This is one of them. I am a non-smoker. I think it is deplorable to subject children to second hand smoke. But I am not for making criminals out of adults for doing so. We are becoming such a society of rules. It seems before long there will be a law for just about everything. And of course you will have those people with nothing better to do than to preach the rules and try to enforce them themselves by abusing the judicial system to get rich by suing the pants off someone who broke rule 976 on page 19404 of manual xyz. It is ridiculous and such a waste of time and resources. I realize that there are ignorant people in our society who have no idea how harmful secondhand smoke is - especially to a child with developing lungs. I just don't feel that having more rules/laws is going to solve all of our problems.
 
You can't outlaw stupidity. Lack of common sense is not against the law. We can't protect every child against every evil everywhere all the time. It's unfortunate that some people can breed healthy children, then endanger them in some way, but it is a fact of life.
 
And I see what you are saying too!;) Maybe it is because I'm from Canada and for some reason we don't fear losing our freedom that I don't see this as such a threat. OK that didn't sound right. Don't get me wrong, it's not like Canadians want to lose their freedom, but we don't fear Big Brother the same way the States does....does that make sense? Probably not. But because we don't fear Big Brother I can see this law for what it is without fearing it being a downward slope. I really don't know if I got that across right so let me know if I have to clear that up.:D
 
I think addicted smokers and drinkers should be outlawed from these products. This is just too much of a problem for addicted people to handle. A great percentage of people just can't control this. It is known you are addicted when you smoke and drink under unsafe conditions. For instance, one being in a car with children. If that isn't addiction, then I don't know what is. (Stupid)

Janie

The idea is to die young as late as possible.

http://www.picturetrail.com/janiejoey
 
Passing a law doesn't mean it won't happen. Think about 'gun free zones' or 'drug free zones'. What do they mean? Drugs are certainly illegal but that doesn't stop thousands of people from using them daily. Passing a law usually never stops someone from doing what they want to do anyway.

Carolyn
 
Janie, caffeine is bad too. Should be ban that as well? What about steak knives? They could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Or Tylenol. People could overdose if they please. Where should we draw the line?


Carolyn
 
>Janie, caffeine is bad too. Should be ban that as well? What
>about steak knives? They could be dangerous in the wrong
>hands. Or Tylenol. People could overdose if they please. Where
>should we draw the line?
>
>
>Carolyn
>
>

Carolyn, don't bring the "c" word into this. If you take it away from me, I may have to turn this thread into something else }( ;-)


Debbie


I'm not gaining weight. I'm retaining food.
 
Carolyn,

I don't know where to draw the line, but I have to have my coffee in the morning.:9 Wish there were answers to these questions. I do like my freedom to choose. But wonder why people just can't get it. (Sad;( )
The idea is to die young as late as possible.

http://www.picturetrail.com/janiejoey
 
Hmmm...there are many intersting points of view here and many great posts with points made that I never even thought of!:)

I guess the bottom line for me is exactly as others have stated... "where does it end!?!?"

I am all for keeping our country's children as safe as possble! I am a mother of a 2 year old as well as an ex-smoker. I quit before I got pregnant so I understand BUT IMHO, unless the government is going to put a law in place providing that couples must take an exam to prove compitency and common sense in child rearing before being "allowed" to get pregnant (or adopt a child for that matter) then they have no right to pass this law!

If you want to pass a law to make it illegal to smoke in a car for the same reason one is not allowed to use a cell phone (unless it is hands-free) then that is fine. Outlaw smoking by the DRIVER for reason of dangerous distraction and I will not argue...

Just my 2 cent more!:p
 
slimmingmom: I can understand that the Canadian perspective is a bit different. This probably due to too many hockey related head injuries. Just kidding ;-) ;-) From what I understand, Europeans (generally speaking) also have a diminished need for privacy and I would be interested to know what shapes these beliefs and perceptions but alas, that is another discussion. And I tend to be a nerd ;)
 
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