Infringing on constitutional rights is never a good idea regardless of the positive justification. Freedom trumps all.

 

Maybe you need to work to change the law, because the Supreme Court over and over deems these actions to be constitutional.

 

Here is a thought, maybe people could exercise better judgement of their freedoms and choose not to get high or drunk before driving. As MTGL said, I'm glad the police are being proactive to rid the streets of intoxicated/impared drivers. If I have to take 2 or 3 minutes out of my life once in a great while at a DUI check point, I am willing to do it in the service of protecting others.

The only thing I hate about checkpoints is that they have to announce them ahead of time.

The only thing I hate about checkpoints is that they have to announce them ahead of time.

With you.

The only thing I hate about checkpoints is that they have to announce them ahead of time.

FWIW the exact time and date aren't announced.

I think it's a culture and acceptance thing. We all have cars. Our kids have cars. In the US, although we say we want stiffer penalties for DUIs, generally speaking there is still a nonchalant attitude about driving to a bar or restaurant, having drinks, then driving home. Heck, our bars and restaurants have plenty of parking spaces to encourage you to drive there, park, then come inside and be served.

 

In other countries, the locals drink, but they just don't get behind the wheel and drive. They just don't do that. Rarely ever.

You mean I shouldn't even walk the 2 blocks up to my nearest bar? Granted, the stumble home can be adventurous if I've been feeling particularly festive, but I can hold my liquor pretty well.

 

In all seriousness, though, really thought-provoking post.

 

Well... a two block walk is probably nothing to get too worked up about. My personal objection meter won't fly off that charts about something like that, and I'm confident that you probably know how to carry yourself that far under the circumstances.

The only thing I hate about checkpoints is that they have to announce them ahead of time.

 

Yep I hate protecting freedom to.

I think it's a culture and acceptance thing. We all have cars. Our kids have cars. In the US, although we say we want stiffer penalties for DUIs, generally speaking there is still a nonchalant attitude about driving to a bar or restaurant, having drinks, then driving home. Heck, our bars and restaurants have plenty of parking spaces to encourage you to drive there, park, then come inside and be served.

 

In other countries, the locals drink, but they just don't get behind the wheel and drive. They just don't do that. Rarely ever.

 

They also allow drinking to be socially acceptable at younger ages.

 

People keep quoting stiffer penalties other countries have for DUI's. Look at those countries laws on drinking age and their public transport . It's night and day to what we have.

 

We need to quit letting these Puritan laws from yesterday control our society. Wake up and start having better laws surrounding alcohol. We want to arrest parents for allowing their kids to drink in their own home.

They also allow drinking to be socially acceptable at younger ages.

 

People keep quoting stiffer penalties other countries have for DUI's. Look at those countries laws on drinking age and their public transport . It's night and day to what we have.

 

We need to quit letting these Puritan laws from yesterday control our society. Wake up and start having better laws surrounding alcohol. We want to arrest parents for allowing their kids to drink in their own home.

 

You started out right in your last paragraph. But you blew it when you continued.

 

Arresting parents for allowing their children to consume alcohol is not the way. One of the major problems with underage drinking in the US is how we attach a mystery to alcohol in terms of what it is and how it affects us. As a society, we'd be better served if we'd stop with the whole "you can't control yourself on alcohol" mindset and instead acknowledge the fact that, yes, your kids are going to drink, and yes, we should be more responsible as a society in addressing this and managing it, instead of acting from some dumb Nancy Reagan premise that "no means no," and because we said "no," they'll never do it.

 

There's no more effective way to get a kid to try something than to just say no, and to give zero reasons behind that stance.

You started out right in your last paragraph. But you blew it when you continued.

 

Arresting parents for allowing their children to consume alcohol is not the way. One of the major problems with underage drinking in the US is how we attach a mystery to alcohol in terms of what it is and how it affects us. As a society, we'd be better served if we'd stop with the whole "you can't control yourself on alcohol" mindset and instead acknowledge the fact that, yes, your kids are going to drink, and yes, we should be more responsible as a society in addressing this and managing it, instead of acting from some dumb Nancy Reagan premise that "no means no," and because we said "no," they'll never do it.

 

There's no more effective way to get a kid to try something than to just say no, and to give zero reasons behind that stance.

 

Confused where I went wrong because I agree with you.

And yes, you can, in fact, control yourself while you're drinking alcohol. The mothers and grandmothers of this state who hate the way their redneck sons and husbands have become are wrong, and, in fact, part of the problem. Their preaching about how you have a total loss of control while drinking is foolish and silly. You only lose control if you allow yourself to.

I would love to see the employment numbers for counties who don't allow drinking compared to other counties.

Confused where I went wrong because I agree with you.

 

We need to quit letting these Puritan laws from yesterday control our society.

 

There's no way I could possibly agree more with this.

 

Wake up and start having better laws surrounding alcohol. We want to arrest parents for allowing their kids to drink in their own home.

 

You ran off the rails here. I have a healthy respect for alcohol and its effects upon me pretty much because my parents allowed me to drink and taught me how to respond to alcohol's effects. Too many other parents adopt your approach, and their children end up being the ones passed out on the floor at the frat house with their eyebrows shaved off, while people whose parents were like mine sit back and laugh at the spectacle.

 

Those kids with their eyebrows shaved off tend to be the ones most likely to smack around their women and kids.

There's no way I could possibly agree more with this.

 

 

 

You ran off the rails here. I have a healthy respect for alcohol and its effects upon me pretty much because my parents allowed me to drink and taught me how to respond to alcohol's effects. Too many other parents adopt your approach, and their children end up being the ones passed out on the floor at the frat house with their eyebrows shaved off, while people whose parents were like mine sit back and laugh at the spectacle.

 

Either misread my post or I typed it wrong. Because I agree with you. I grew up in a household that taught me to drink and not act like I wasn't going to. I was mocking the laws that arrest parents for allowing it.

Either misread my post or I typed it wrong. Because I agree with you. I grew up in a household that taught me to drink and not act like I wasn't going to. I was mocking the laws that arrest parents for allowing it.

 

Gotcha. Didn't spot the sarcasm initially. :thumb: