I'm from the Government and I'm Here to Help

No, I'm not really making a political statement. I have just been thinking about how terribly complicated everything has become, especially where our teenagers are concerned.

I think I can trace it back to the year I realized both my small children needed a social security number and they were only toddlers, not even old enough to have a job! I didn't have to have a SSN until around the time I got my driver's license and the government certainly did not require my parents to use it for dependent deductions on income tax returns. I guess getting it as toddlers did help when my kids went out to get their first job, as it alleviated standing in line at the Social Security office.

Then came revisions in the way driver's licenses are issued. First an individual must pass his reading EOI in the 8th grade. Fine - that's a way to force people who don't want to learn to read to do it anyway, and as far as I can tell it is helping to raise the standard to the 8th grade level for all of us drivers.

Then the state began to put complicated restrictions on how many people can be in a newly licensed driver's car, when he can drive, how many can be in the car after dark, etc. with gradated restrictions. At 16 and without driver's ed, I waltzed into the DMV, took a written test, then the driving test, passed both, got in the car and drove home, deliriously happy at my new found freedom, although I did flunk the eye exam and have a restriction for glasses.

With safer cars and being able to read better, you'd think today's teens would have fewer restrictions. They should also have better hand/eye coordination from the number of video games they have played and text messages they have sent with one hand only while watching tv. I'm sure the government has a valid reason, though, for helping with these improvements in driver safety.

But, teens really must be on someone's hit list. Laws are being considered which would raise the legal driving age to 18 or tie a driver's license to school attendance in an effort to lower the drop out rate. It makes sense, as we are moving toward the European way in so many facets of our lives. For years European teens have waited until 18 and saving up for the $1000+ fee to get a driver's license. Of course, they do have a safe mass transit system in most towns, allowing teens greater mobility, which we will surely be getting anytime now in the U.S., because our long range government planners have our back, right?

Likewise, No Child Left Behind is an attempt to fix American education by making students pass end-of-instruction tests to graduate, just as they do in Europe. This is a complicated process of testing, remediating, and retesting until the student either passes the test or graduates or drops out of school, whichever comes first. As far as I can tell, the drop out rate has actually increased since I was in school when there were no EOI tests or No Child Left Behind, and conversely American creativity and productivity has declined. But, I am hopeful that all of these measures will help students finally achieve their full potential and find good paying jobs in our service economy.

I am being very facetious, but I am really serious about how complicated everything has become. More and more restrictions seem to be placed on us everyday. I am reminded of what Cicero said "Where mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary. Where mores are lacking, laws are unenforceable."

How does this apply to the care and feeding of teenagers? The greatest gift we can give our children is the ability to self-govern. It affects every aspect of their achieving their goals in life. It also affects the greater American society and our ability to maintain our individual liberty. The government can enact all the laws in the world, but unless the governed consent to abide willingly and rightly by the law when it is rational, no amount of legislation will be effective, unless, of course, we are headed toward totalitarianism.

I don't want that for my children or grandchildren and I don't think you do, either, so I leave you with the words of former President Ronald Reagan -
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Let's all help by instilling our children with a sense of responsibility toward each other, but most of all toward themselves. It is their future, afterall.