Rules are for other people

I am firmly of the opinion there are far too many laws, regulations, and rules in this country. I suspect the world would be a better place if about 99% of them did not exist. I wouldn’t even be surprise if 50% of them could go away and no one would even notice they were gone. That said, I still obey nearly all of them I am aware of. I pay all my taxes. I try to stay within the speed limit and store my explosives as per the advice the ATF gives me.

I can’t tell you how many times Barb and I have grumbled to each other that we must be stupid for following the rules or for not trying to scam the system in some way. She sees so many people in her work at the hospital who get free medical care at taxpayer expense. Many are drug (I include alcohol an tobacco as drugs) addicts or just find ways to get on disability when they actually could be productive members of society. Many of them demand to stay longer in the hospital and be taken care of. They refuse to get out of bed or to do the exercises that would help them become strong enough to walk on their own. They even show up drunk and unable to stand well enough to do their therapy without hurting themselves or their therapist. Your, and my, tax dollars are paying for all of this. And of course they all are firm believers in a government that takes care of them. They are lefties.

They should either follow the letter and the spirit of the rules that give them a free ride or they should be removed from the welfare system.

It turns out it’s not just the “little people” that ignore the rules and get away with abusing the system. A case in point is Arianna Huffington:

Huffington refused to turn off her Blackberry just before takeoff from Washington D.C. on a flight bound for New York City.  Huffington continued to use the phone during and after take-off which greatly antagonized a nearby fellow passenger.   Huffington kept the phone on throughout the flight even though the passenger, Ellis Bellodof, repeatedly asked her to turn it off.  Eventually, the two “caused a disturbance” so loud that security was called immediately after the plane landed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, and both Huffington and Belledof were escorted off the plane for questioning.  Both were released without charges.

Now, I think the rule against using your cell phone on the plane is pretty stupid. To the best of my knowledge there is no evidence cell phone usage interferes with the planes electronics. And all of the recent airplane travel I have been on required that I not just put my phone into “Airplane mode” but actually turn the phone off. The only valid reason for that final rule is to make enforcement by the flight attendants a little bit easier. It’s far easier to see that a phone is off (it isn’t being used) than to verify the phone is in “Airplane mode”.

Despite thinking the rule is stupid I just frown a little bit and I turn off my phone when first asked to so. But this upper crust lefty, Arianna Huffington, does not obey this rule. That pisses me off. The airlines should either get rid of the rule (preferred) or refuse her service on their planes.

But what I think the bigger lesson here is that there are a lot of people on the left who make rules for “other people” yet don’t follow the rules that are supposed to apply to them. Case in point, legislators that advocate for restrictions on firearms. The Second Amendment is a “rule” they refuse to acknowledge. At the Federal level the enumerated powers of the constitution is ignored. Do you remember what Nancy Pelosi said when asked where the constitution gave the Federal government the power to implement the takeover of health care? She said, “Are you serious?” That pisses me off.

They are rule makers. If they don’t obey the rules how can they expect others to obey them except at the point of a gun? Is that why they want to remove guns from the public? Because the only reason they will obey the rules that supposedly apply to them is at the point of a gun?

Legislators, of any political persuasion, that ignore the highest rule of the land should either change the rules, leave the service of this country, or be removed from service—preferably in chains.

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11 thoughts on “Rules are for other people

  1. On Saturday I’ll try to remember to ask you how you really feel. 😉

    A comment though, taking the advice of the ATF isn’t actually probably a bad thing. As an engineer I would view it as an opportunity to learn the lessons of those who came before you. While I’m sure there’s restrictions that you have to deal with which for your purposes are nothing but a PITFA, from your description the local ATF office has been helpful.

    As for the rules applying to one group and not another thing, the end of that video you tweeted nailed it on the head. Every time I hear someone argue for a law with an exemption, I promptly stand against it. At least the suppressor law in Washington isn’t tyrannical. Though law enforcement use them anyway, who’s going to arrest them?

    B

  2. Huffington isn’t really a lefty. She’s an “opportunist.” She’s an ex-righty who only became a lefty because it was to her financial benefit to do so.

  3. Barron,

    That’s pretty much how I really feel about it.

    Stop by the house on Saturday about 8:30. I may have enough room to give you a ride.

    ubu52,

    Should that change my conclusion in some manner? She is currently an advocate for leftist causes and I see a significant greater of number of leftist advocates breaking the rules than I do those on the right. I’m quite willing to entertain the possibility of some bias on my part. If that possibility of bias affects the correctness of my conclusions in this matter please elaborate.

    And regardless of her, or anyone else’s, political beliefs the rules should abolished or effectively enforced.

  4. I think Huffington should be banned from flying. I remember the pilots asking for that rule because they believed the cell phones were messing with their electronics. This was years ago (maybe 2000), they couldn’t prove it but they were worried about cell phones causing an accident on one particular airplane.

    I think they openly admitted that they couldn’t scientifically prove anything. But back then, everyone was not carrying a phone. So I believe the stupid rule was the result of a random hunch.

    That is probably why Huffington was getting yelled at by a civilian on the plane.

    Miles Digby

  5. Joe,

    If Arianna could suddenly make more money as a right winger tomorrow, she’d be a right winger. She has no moral standing. Read her Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianna_Huffington.

    People like her and her ex-husband really make me sick because they have no idea what they are. They just make it up as they go along. (To me, Markos from Daily Kos fits into the same mold — make it up as you go along. He was also a Republican at one time.)

    Anyway, if you are going to point fingers at lefties, at least pick lefties who have always been lefties. Don’t pick the switch-hitters.

  6. This crap pisses me off so bad. I mean baby-punching angry. Here’s some more examples of second estateism and just how angry I am. it’s been a long time since I’ve heard the term public servant used to describe politicians it’s time we started using it again and meaning it.

    Ubu52, I find any politician, of whatever stripe, who believes the rules don’t apply to them to be contemptible. If they also feel that the law should be changed to reflect their “special status” then they’re contemptible and dangerous. It matters not whether they are leftists, right-wingers, lefties that used to be righties or ambidextrous. Obey the rules or suffer the consequences, and always remember, you work for us.

  7. There are a lot of rules I wish would just go away, too. While it can be noble to break them in protest, there’s also a lot to be said of obeying rules for simple reasons of “self defense”. For example, I wouldn’t even try to carry a gun in Great Britain, if I were to visit there, because I have a family to feed and raise.

    Even when keeping the rules, though, there are ways to protest them. Some tax protesters refuse to make enough money to be taxed–such protesters can’t be sent to jail! I, for one, will be trying to keep myself off of as much state welfare as possible–so that I’d be much less subject to the whims of government. It’s going to take years to do this, though, although about half a year of my oldest daughter in kindergarten has gone a long way in convincing my wife that home-schooling isn’t such a bad option after all! 🙂

  8. I forgot the brackets. I figured it was probably how you really felt since I don’t often hear you say, “That pisses me off!” You remain calm and cut them in half with logic without expressing that it has you pissed off most of the time.

    The whole double standard thing is getting worse. I could have sworn I heard a senator say at one point, “we go through TSA just like everyone else.” Well they created the damn thing and now they want to bypass it while screwing the rest of us. I do look at that whole Plexiglas thing and just laugh my ass off though. Same with the 1000 foot requirement. Also there’s legislation to allow them to carry concealed weapons into places that you and I can’t. What’s to stop a congress critter from going crazy? There’s so much idiocy coming out of congress right now I can’t even blog it all! There’s the laws for them, and the laws for us. It’s BULL!

  9. Mr. Barnett,

    I wholeheartedly agree. Doesn’t the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment preclude such legislation? (I suppose Elena Kagan & the Supremes beg to differ, but come on)…

  10. A few years ago ground testing of portable transmitters inside the fuselage of a 737 found some very disturbing disruptions in control surfaces and instrument readings. I lost the file I had on that during Katrina, but as I recall, how much and what kind of disturbance depended on the frequency, power level, and the transmitters position in relation to wiring bundles. If I saw someone using a cell phone any time after the ramp pulled back, I would want off NOW.

    Stranger

  11. Anyway, if you are going to point fingers at lefties, at least pick lefties who have always been lefties. Don’t pick the switch-hitters.

    This means that you won’t ever say anything bad about Ronald Reagan, then?

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