This past weekend the Associated Press reported that the “father of a Texas A&M junior who died of bacterial meningitis says he plans to push the Legislature to require that all students at Texas universities be vaccinated against the fast-moving infection.”
His son was Nico Williams, a 20-year-old A&M student who went to hospital Monday and died on Friday. State law requires the vaccine for first-time, on-campus college students but that didn’t apply to Williams because he lived off-campus.
Now Williams’ father is doing what so many Americans have curiously come to accept as normal, right and, in many cases, noble. He’s running to government to attempt to get a law passed which would make everyone do what his family member freely chose not to do.
This is a sad story but another example of how hard-cases make bad-law.
It’s little different from the person who, not paying attention runs the car off a cliff, then from hospital, begins a movement to require stronger guard-rails to be installed a cost to each taxpayer. The driver could focus upon his own failure to pay attention and drive with better skill but that would be far more difficult than saying “there ought to be a law” because, that requires little self examination or acceptance of responsibility. Such seems to be a theme in these cases.
It’s terribly sad that a bright and budding Aggie is lost but, one must remember that he and his parents were freely able to get the vaccination – but chose not to. Passing laws to force people to make what’s perceived as “better” decisions doesn’t lead to better people, just more powerful rulers and less Liberty for citizens.
Robert Pratt is host of the top-rated Pratt on Texas radio program which can be heard at www.PrattonTexas.com
© 2011 Pratt on Texas
