Making Us Safer By Stripping Our Rights

Another one of our constitutional freedoms will be permanently chipped away if Kansas lawmakers have their way. It turns out they are debating a law that will allow the police to pull people over for not wearing their seat belts. Now, someone reading this is asking themselves, “Can't they do that already? After all, the law requires us to wear our seat belts.” That is a good question, so, let's recap. We are protected by several rights, among which are the rights against unlawful detention and the right to privacy. The police do not have the right to indiscreminantly detain and question people to find out if they have broken any laws. They must have a reason, such as speeding, or failing to signal before they can violate those protections. In other words, they must have reasonable suspicion you have broken a law before they can pull you over. Yay! Win one for freedom.
But, not in Kansas apparently. Kansas lawmakers want to strip us of those protections and give police the ability to pull people over on a whim. I say this because, there is no way police officers can accurately tell if you are wearing a seat belt or not until you are stopped. The next time you are sitting at an intersection, try to look into the cars as they pass and see who is wearing their seat belt. You will encounter no end of difficulty. The sun will reflect off the glass so you cannot see inside. Many older cars have lap belts only. Some people will have clothing that closely matches the set belt making it difficult to tell whether they do or don't have their seat belt on. And all of this must be determined with in a fraction of a second. Now, add night into the picture, and this law becomes completely useless. If this law is passed, a police officer need only say they could not see your seat belt and they would have the right to pull you over. Consider for a moment the potential abuse of this power. Minority groups already encounter situations where they are pulled over for questionable reasons.
Maybe you think this is no big deal. “Yes, we may be sacrificing a small amount of personal freedom, but we will all be safer for it in the end.” you say. The problem is we have lost too much already. Our freedoms have been chipped away for decades, and if we don't draw the line somewhere we run the risk of losing them all. I wear my seat belt and I believe they save lives. I think people who don't wear seat belts are taking a foolish risk. However, it is none of the government's business if I take foolish risks, and using this as the platform for further erroding our freedoms is unconscionable.