The Minneapolis police department are going to be busy this winter. Not from investing more resources into fighting drugs or violent crime. No, they are going to be busy enforcing a new ordinance the city recently passed that limits the time a car can legally idle to three minutes. The reasoning behind the ordinance...global warming, of course. Another reason, according to Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak, to help people with the increasing cost of gasoline. According to Rybak, "If you're sitting in an idling car, you're getting zero miles per gallon." What a genius. This new ordinance should lead one to think about issues of freedom. Shouldn't we be free to waste a product that is legal to purchase. Since we bought the gasoline, shouldn't it be our own personal choice if we want our car to be warm when we drive off to work on a frosty winter morning. So even though the ordinance itself is not going to be a huge burden, and most likely unenforceable, it's the principle that the city is trying to micromanage individual's free market choices that should bother most people. This ordinance reminds me of a statement by Jonah Goldberg's, while discussing his new book Liberal Fascism on C-SPAN's Book TV. 'If a government forces a hug upon you, it is still a totalitarian in nature if you don't want to be hugged.' In other words, thanks for trying to save us some gas, and thanks for looking out for our air quality, but how about asking nicely, instead of making it a crime to idle our cars. Unfortunately, they chose the latter, and now I personally will warm up my car this winter, hell this summer (and my air conditioner doesn't even work) to spite the city government.
I doubt that most residents in Minneapolis are against the ordinance. If the city used global warming to justify euthanasia against the mentally handicapped, I'm sure they could get Minneapolis residents to go along with it, and support it.
