Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Licensing cyclists would be more big government


I read, with great interest, your op-ed regarding licensing bike riders. Many of us remember the days when bikes were actually licensed. A sticker, or if you really have some turns on your cranks, license plates for bikes, what a novel idea. This noble scheme was intended to inform riders of their responsibilities, help locate stolen bikes, thus deterring theft and promote an orderly norm among the pedaling public; total mendacities.
    I bristled at the reference in your piece to a small fee. This is demonstrative of the kind of mindset that has and is paralyzing our country. You say that we license everyone from hunters to hairstylists. What an astute observation. It is the fatal flaw in your argument and the one that makes my case. The proponents of big government, and their sycophants in the media, are always ready to bilk the tax-paying public out of more cash for services they have already paid for, thus increasing the cost to all and returning no benefit. The taxpayers of this county own the roads, the bike paths and sidewalks of our communities. We have paid for them, continue to pay for them and will use them as we need to within the laws and norms already established. To believe a new fee, which is a code word for tax, will solve the problem—is pure sophistry.  
    More fees, more licenses, more permits, more intrusions into our shrinking household budgets is not “a good start.”  It’s just another bad idea from the same old big government mindset that is chasing everyone from Apple to Burger King to shield their earnings from the likes of our government.  Get a clue!
Tim Rierden
Hailey




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