Engineering

» JohnCrandall - What do you think?

Here's what I think about the infant car seats. I think it is a somewhat more justifiable law than the seatbelt laws because it protects helpless babies without much decision making capability. However, the babies still have a right to freedom, and so do their parents. That's where it gets a little sticky, because courts used to regularly uphold parents rights to make decisions for their children. Like so many other issues the modern trend is away from the older precedents, and parents today do not seem to be able to claim their rights as easily as they once did. I would say that the frequency of divorce and child custody fights is partially to blame for this trend. A house divided against itself cannot stand, or protect its rights. And so although I would personally support the parents rights in most cases, I don't think they are as clearcut, obviously indefeasable, and Constitutionally guaranteed as the rights of the individual.

-- posted by JohnCrandall