This LTE was printed in the Detroit News on March 7th.
Letter: Focus on nation's founding values
"The Feb. 18 editorial brief "Appropriate driving law" is an example of a true statement that can be misleading in terms of the principle involved. The sentence: "This new legislation expands a smart law that rightly punishes drivers who have chosen to risk other people's lives with their irresponsible decisions" can leave the impression that the purpose of law is to protect people from irresponsible decisions instead of violations of their rights. The question then becomes who decides what is responsible or irresponsible and according to what standards?
Is the mother whose child had her turkey sandwich, banana and apple juice confiscated by food police guilty of irresponsible decisions? Were all of us guilty of irresponsible decisions for wanting to use incandescent light bulbs or watch analog TV or put salt on our potatoes?
The tea parties exist to get our nation back to its fundamental, founding principles. They could really use the support of those on editorial staffs to identify those principles.
The above quote could ideally have read in part "... rightly punishes drivers who have chosen to risk violating other people's rights." Individual rights are a profound value. To consistently fail to mention primary values is to consider them unimportant."
