Re: Radon Field Day

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

I too have to respectfully disagree with the libertarian "the best government is the least government' opinions.  People who live together in a community make rules to  safeguard their mutual well-being, and speed limits are among those.  I ride a bicycle, and I am grateful not only for speed limits  but also for the government-issue bike lanes painted on secondary arterials and for the off-road bike paths the taxpayers provide, as well as for the "right turn yield to bikes" signs.  In return, I get places without polluting the air, using gasoline, or taking up a parking spot.


I live on a quiet residential street 2 blocks long.  Children play in the street.  the speed limit is 25 mph, so cars can slow down.


One of my daughters is exceedingly sensitive to cigarette smoke.  Happily she can now fly comfortably in airplanes.  I am not so sensitive -- I don't mind second-hand smoke particularly, but I am grateful that I can sit in a no-smoking section of a restaurant and not have all my clothing pick up stale smoke.


I might say I am equally grateful that my neighbors cannot substitute outhouses or pit toilets for indoor plumbing, that a drive-in liquor store cannot be built on the corner lot across from my house, that Wal-Mart can't condemn my property.


and so on


Just because we take issue with the standards in much of the radiation protection legislation we have doesn't mean there shouldn't be any such legislation.    One of the freedoms guaranteed by the legal framework we have is the freedom to take issue with standards.


OK I'll shut up now. 

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com