Your tiresome screed against the ban of gas-powered golf carts misses the point. I generally agree that government ought to leave people to their own devices and stay out of people’s private affairs (such as who they choose to marry, if they choose to own a gun, where they choose to build a church or mosque, where they choose to live and work, etc.).
However, once their conduct adversely affects their neighbors and fellow citizens, it is the government’s function to make an informed decision whether or not to regulate this behavior. It is government’s function to draw lines between acceptable impacts on others and unacceptable impacts.
This is why they are elected. If the citizens do not like the elected officials’ decisions, they have recourse at the ballot box. If the decisions are arbitrary and capricious or violate a constitutional liberty, the citizen may seek redress from the courts.
There are certainly many things that your neighbor might do that you would ask the government to stop. For instance, you would not want your neighbor to have a rock concert at his house every night. You probably wouldn’t want your neighbor to ride his horse on the cart paths. You most certainly would not want me to tour the cart paths in a high-speed cart fitted with a snow plow and a machine gun turret called the “Deathmobile,” a la “Animal House.”
Granted, gas-powered carts are a closer call than rock concerts, horses and Deathmobiles, but there is no doubt that many cart path users find them obnoxious and offensive (I hate sucking fumes on the paths myself and apparently so do you).
It is these sort of close calls that we elect our officials to address. If you want a societal free for all without government interference I would suggest relocating to a garden spot like Afghanistan.
In the future, you might want to save your righteous indignation for things like the recent massive cash giveaways conducted by the Bush and Obama administrations or at least something a bit more weighty than the regulation of a nuisance activity.
Charles Davenport
Peachtree City, Ga.
