Friday, March 11, 2005 | 5:53 a.m.
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
WEEKEND EDITION
March 12 - 13, 2005
"Give me liberty or give me death."
So said the great patriot Patrick Henry back in the day when words really meant something, not like today when words in the public arena are most often scripted to appeal to some time- and poll-tested emotional response of an electorate too easily manipulated away from its common sense, American core values. There are exceptions, of course, to carefully scripted messages -- our good mayor, Oscar Goodman, comes to mind -- but, by and large, most of what we hear and see from elected leadership is planned and, therefore, mostly insincere.
It is a moment like this when I miss our former governor and Nevada's friend, Mike O'Callaghan, because he understood those words of passion and he knew how to work on behalf of the greater good for all Nevadans. There was also no man more appreciative of the liberty that is afforded all Americans as a matter of right and more understanding of the responsibility each of us has to exercise that freedom in a way that makes our union more, not less, perfect.
At this point in my thought process Mike would start his lecture, which consisted of no more than a sentence or two, in which he would encourage me to speak more clearly and concisely. Tell the people what's on your mind and do it so they can understand you, he would admonish. And he would be right, of course. So, here goes.
Tim O'Callaghan, Mike's youngest, is a chip off the old block. At least when it comes to stepping into the fray where his father would have been with both feet. One wooden, of course.
Mike was responsible for Nevada enacting the motorcycle helmet law in 1972, a measure designed in those days --- remember the pre-Internet, pre-cell phone, pre-everything days -- to save lives. It was a simple law that required everyone who rode a motorcycle to wear a helmet. It was passed at a time when there were far fewer motorcycles, far fewer cars and far fewer idiots on our roads, and it was intended to save people from the horrors of death and destruction that are part and parcel of a motorcycle accident. And here is a news flash: It has worked -- because countless thousands of lives have been saved.
So here is where Patrick Henry comes in. Those who would die for liberty -- which should include all of us who have tasted the glory of freedom -- are being protected by the folks who call themselves libertarians and who abound in the Silver State. As a matter of disclosure, I am a libertarian of sorts because I believe in individual rights trumping most government ordinations. To further that cause, I became a Republican many, many years ago. My political party, of course, left that track a long time ago, which has left me kind of stranded, waiting for a miracle, I suppose, to right the far-right thinking of that Grand Old Party. I can wait.
In the meantime, a favorite activity of libertarians in Nevada is to every two years begin a full frontal assault on the Helmet Law under the guise of individual liberty. I suppose the mantra goes something like this: If we want to kill ourselves on our motorcycles, that is our right. And if we want to spill our brains on the roadways rather than use them to live another day, that is also our right. Mike never had any patience for those folks who were determined to end up brain-damaged patients.
Each legislative session the repeal of the Helmet Law would work itself into some committee and hope would spring forth from those whose death wish overcame their zest for living. There was always a legislative champion or two in Carson City who would blindly succumb to the siren song of political support come the next election and push the repeal forward.
And each and every time they would run into Mike O'Callaghan. Most of the time they didn't know it, because that wasn't how Mike worked, but the results would be unmistakable. A well-placed phone call or two and those bills would be buried so deep in a committee chairman's drawer that light would never shine upon them again. Mike knew that his law saved lives and that was that.
This past week, Tim O'Callaghan took up that fight. By the way, it is no longer just Mike's fight, because every Nevadan is faced daily with the possibility of a time when motorcycle riders can let their hair blow in the wind as their brains get splattered across our windshields and over our streets. And when that happens, and statistics prove that will happen far more often when helmets are not worn, it is not just the helmetless riders who pay the price.
We the people pay for every one of those accidents. Whether it is increased taxes to cover the medical consequences of long-term care for brain-damaged riders; or increased health insurance premiums to cover the risks attached to helmetless motorcycle riding; or the feelings of loss experienced by families and loved ones when the victims get lucky and die rather than living a lifetime in vegetative states; or the nightmares that forever haunt the hapless drivers of automobiles who survive the accidents, but who must live with the knowledge that they killed another human being; whatever the consequence, the burden is borne by many more than just the motorcycle rider looking to express his or her individual freedom.
And all that means that this is not a question of liberty, it is a question of responsibility -- to ourselves and our communities -- and no muddled logic can make a Patrick Henry moment out of the effort to repeal that right-and-proper law. If there is any merit to be found in the argument for repeal, then it would follow that the Legislature should repeal all mandatory seat belt laws at the same time. Especially the ones that say you have to put a baby in a car seat. Heck, put them back in the front seat without a belt where they belong and where we have a constitutional right to jeopardize their young lives!
Tim's very well-reasoned column in the Green Valley News this past week, in the space where his father used to write, is a must-read. It should convince any clear-thinking libertarian that, while there should be no limits on our individual freedoms -- such as in our bedrooms, our medical offices, our libraries and our relationships -- there must be some limits when what we do adversely affects others.
Spilling our brains on our neighbors and handing them the medical bills for their trouble is one of those places where responsible limits make sense. Don't you agree?
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