[Leica] Is the US a Nanny state?

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

The US is not quite the Nanny state that many Luggers feel it to be. While
we tend to be protective of our children, adults are generally free to kill
themselves with methods of their own choosing. True, many skateparks require
protective gear for children under 12 but most let adults risk life and limb
unprotected. No helmets are required for skiing, bicycling, snowboarding,
etc. despite several the recent deaths of several prominent individuals.
Indeed, I lost a good friend who fractured his skull falling from his
bicycle. A number of states required motorcycle riders to wear helmets but
half repealed the laws following protests by irate Harley Davidson owners.
Obviously feeling the wind in your hair is worth a goos chance of brain
injury.

Unlike most of Europe, guns are freely available in the US and a number of
states impose no restrictions on ownership. Ironically, those venues with
the strictest gun laws (i.e. Washington D.C.) have the highest gun murder
rate in the country while those with the greatest percent of gun ownership
and the fewest restrictions (Vermont and New Hampshire), the lowest rate of
gun homicide.

Judging by the places I have lived, the US is a fairly permissive country.
Automobile licensing and inspection procedures are much stricter in the UK
than in the US. Canadian speed limits are much lower than in the US are are
enforced by numerous speed cameras. Any idiot in the US can buy a powerboat
and operate it without a license while Canadians and Europeans have to jump
through licensing hoops before they can get behind the wheel.

Medicines available only by prescription in the US are freely available in
Mexico and India. Beer is considered a beverage suitable for children in
Germany. In Scandinavia hard liquor is closely controlled and highly taxed
by the state but freely sold in supermarkets in the UK. Near my house in New
Delhi a construction company left a 20 meter deep excavation totally
unprotected by guards or fencing next to a children's playground. It was
open for the entire two years we lived nearby. Of course the children were
so enfeebled by the air pollution from poorly maintained diesel busses,
mopeds, motor rickshaws on the adjacent highway that they could hardly hit a
cricket ball far enough to reach the excavation.

Americans tend to be willing to sue at the drop of a tort, but I suspect
that is the result of all the lawyer shows on TV. Surprisingly few win
substantial damages. But if not for all the lawsuits, few lawyers would be
able to buy Leicas. They are just priming the pump for the rest of us.

Larry Z