Clearly I do not understand big government liberals. Who looks at someone not wearing their seatbelt and thinks, "Gee, I wish cops would pull that guy over and arrest him. How dare he treat his own body so recklessly."? Who looks at dry cleaning services and haircuts and thinks, "Why am I not paying sales tax for those services? We should have to pay more tax." Well, one person that thinks we are under-taxed, under-regulated, and generally not being bothered enough by intrusive government laws is Margaret Edds of the Virginian-Pilot. Not only does she advocate wasting police resources on stopping dimwits for not wearing a seat belt, but she also wants to raise income taxes on the middle class, raise taxes on corporations (to plug so-called "loopholes"), and continue the restaurant ban on concealed firearms.

Just what is wrong with this lady? Is she just wired so differently that she cannot stand to see someone doing something without some sort of government intervention. She will undoubtedly try to sell her tax increase as a cut for the poor. But lets be honest, the government isn't going to seize less income tax; they're simply going to go after the rich to get the money instead. She also wants to enable Virginia governors to run for re-election. While I'll admit that I've never met a Virginia governor I liked, I support the right of Virginians to impose term limits. Besides, governors can serve more than one term, it just can't be successive. I'm not necessarily in support of term limits, but I think voters should have the choice.

Then, of course, there is the mandatory ban on concealed carry in restaurants. Defending the ban, she claims that most restaurant owners support the ban, and calls anyone who supports letting owners decide for themselves a "zealot". In fact, while she is admittedly pro-choice, when it comes to letting restaurant owners permit law abiding customers to carry concealed handguns in their establishments, she supports a total government ban. Of course, since open carry is legal in Virginia restaurants, repealing the concealed carry ban just brings the two laws into alignment; and the restaurant owner can always post a sign to turn law abiding gun owners away.

I don't know if liberals are necessarily wired differently, or they just can't keep their nose out of other people's business. I'll probably never completely understand them. All I can do is continue my crusade for personal freedom and individual responsibility.