This came across my FaceBook news feed. I watched and just thought, "Wow." Rep. Hale takes something that is universally accepted as illegal, drunk driving, and tries to rationalize that it should be legal out of economic necessity.
His argument is based on that in small towns, there are no buses, taxis or other means of transportation besides their own vehicles. This leaves few options to the person wanting to go and drink. They must choose between going and drinking, but then driving home or not going at all. That part about "not going at all" puts at risk revenue that these drinking establishments could be making. These thoughts lead Rep. Hale to state that in order for these drinking establishments to stay open, which are the center of these towns, people must be afforded the leeway to drive drunk. It is a truly unique and wild idea to think about. In effect, the lives of people are being put at risk for people to get drunk and "build community." It's not an argument that we hear made every day.
I strongly disagree with the belief of Rep. Hale. There are two kinds of laws, laws that are naturally illegal (rape, murder, robbery) and law that make things illegal because we say that they should be illegal (drinking underage, drugs, etc.). I'd think that driving drunk would fall somewhere between those two because it is needlessly putting lives (or as Hale says, to build community). It is inherent in our society that when people's lives are put at risk like that, there has to be some punishment. If someone kills another person while driving drunk if it were legal to drive after drinking, what would the punishment be? Would it be just like killing someone in a normal car accident? It starts to become more ridiculous as questions like this start to be asked.
Drunk driving is in no way an okay thing to do. The fact that it kill thousands of people every year, yet is completely preventable, makes me really angry that someone would stand up for it. If you have had too much to drink, there are two simple solutions: have a sober friend drive you home, and just don't leave wherever you are. I know many people who have been affected by drunk driving, whether they have been arrested for it, or have lost a loved one because they were hit by a drunk driver. There is absolutely no excuse for drunk driving, and people who are caught doing it deserve harsh punishments.
ReplyDeleteThis video is so ridiculous that, while the idea of legalizing drunk driving is horrendous, it's actually quite humorous. His not-so-eloquent speaking style doesn't really help either... But goodness gracious. He puts the lives of people in danger. Does he realize, without people, community would cease to exist?
ReplyDeleteThat's a terrible idea. Driving drunk puts not only those behind the wheel at risk, but also those around them. Rep. Hale clearly doesn't understand the gravity of the situation at hand and what negative results would occur if this legislation was actually passed.
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