As part of my job, I’ve spent the entire week reading through and analyzing the hundreds of new bills introduced in the Assembly and Senate last week. As you can imagine, there are some doozies this year. If it weren’t so sad for the future of our state, it would be funny. Next week I’ll post some of the highlights (and lowlights) of this session’s potential laws. You’ll probably laugh, but you’ll most likely cry when you read what some lawmakers want to make law.

Last week there was media coverage of a bill Assemblyman John Benoit introduced that requires all welfare recipients be subject to random drug testing. It’s a great idea, but the subject of the media coverage was the bill idea’s source: a sixteen-year-old high school student in Benoit’s district. The student, R.J. Field, won an essay contest sponsored by Assemblyman Benoit called “There Ought to be a Law.” You may be surprised to learn that many lawmakers sponsor similar contests in their districts—including many Republicans.

Last year the product of one such contest was a bill that would have mandated community service in order to graduate high school. The organization for which I work opposed the bill because students should be encouraged to volunteer; it should never be a prerequisite for graduating high school. When we contacted the author about the bill, his office informed us that bill idea was better than the runner-up: a one-child only policy, similar to China. Heaven help us if that high school student ever runs for office!

And this story proves the point of my concern over such “There Ought to be a Law” contests in our schools. It’s good for lawmakers to be attuned to the needs of their community and introduce beneficial bills. However, it sends the wrong message to students (future voters) that there “ought to be” laws about any and every social malady, especially problems where government involvement is the worst solution. These types of contests encourage a government dependency mentality amongst young people—it reiterates the liberal policy of looking to the government for sustenance, protection from discomfort and answers to all our problems. This is an inherently un-Republican mentality.

Instead of asking for new law ideas, how about “There Ought (Not) to be a Law” contests. Lawmakers could ask students, and the entire community, for ideas of antiquated or unjust laws that should be repealed. When Republicans finally do have a majority in Sacramento again, they could spend a whole session simply repealing all the regulations that burden citizens! As conservatives, we believe that individual freedom unleashes ingenuity that can solve most of our society’s challenges. Conservative lawmakers should sponsor contests that look for local solutions from businesses and non-profit organizations. Encouraging citizens to become more self-reliant and attend to the needs of their community—with minimal government assistance—that’s an essay contest I could proudly support.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.