Watching the school district livestream Monday, something really caught my attention. The speaker said something along the lines of, “Like any other school rule, we will have parents and students who will not wish to comply, and as such we have created a process to opt-out.”
Wait — what? If you don’t like something, you just opt out? Is this what they mean by cancel culture? You can just say, “What about my rights,” and you are good to go?
I thought about some of the arguments given in the comments: “Why punish the healthy kids? If they want to wear masks let them, leave it as a personal choice. If they are scared, then they can stay home.” And on and on.
I started to think about what I would like to opt out of and how I could apply those same arguments. I quickly came up with one. I am always late — always. I think that the reasons that I am always late are pretty obvious. Stop signs, stop lights and speed limits. I have never been in an accident that was my fault. By every definition, I am a good driver. I even have that app with my insurance company that tracks my driving, and it says I am a good driver.
My question is this: Why are we punishing good drivers with these restrictions? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the bad drivers be restricted and the rest of us just go about our business? I could not find any reference to speed limits in the Constitution. I guess it is probably next to the section on not having to wear masks. If the other people want to stop at intersections that’s fine; they can choose to. And if they are too scared for “Mad Max”-style driving, they can just stay home. If you are reading this chief of police, tell your officers not to bother with me. I am a good driver, and I have opted out. Please focus on the bad drivers, as I blast through that school zone at 75 mph. I will be testing this theory out on Monday. Or I won’t because that would be ridiculous, and I would get a huge ticket.
People complain that young people today have no work ethic. That they show up to a job and want it to conform to them. Where do you think that they learned that? You still have a personal choice with masks. You can choose to send your child to school in a mask, or you can choose to take advantage of many of the free educational options that are not requiring them, such as online learning from your home. That’s your choice. As individuals, we do not get to dictate the rules based on our personal wants and desires. The same is true for driving. I still have a personal choice. No one is forcing me to drive the speed limit or stop at intersections. I can exercise my personal freedom — by walking.
David Roth is chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.