Letter: Nanny state denies us personal choice

How did we ever survive the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s? Asbestos was everywhere – considered to be a miracle building material with other industrial uses such as ship building and brake lining. And lead from leaded paint, leaded gasoline, leaded plumbing. And second-hand smoke.

The visibility in most bars was less than 30 feet and restaurants were not far behind. Even TV was a little murky when Edward R. Murrow or Dean Martin were showing.

There were no endangered-species folks around to protect us from misguidedly building a lot of dams and reservoirs, and consequently, trampling on important bugs and rodents. We didn’t realize they were more valuable than water, recreation and flood protection. We recklessly rode across country without seat belts. I was recently ticketed for driving in broad daylight with lights off – a “moving violation” like speeding. Today, the nanny state is alive and well.

We did not have McDonald’s to sue when we got fat or spilled hot coffee on ourselves. We just tried to learn and do better. We didn’t have armies of lawyers to protect us from ourselves. If someone were injured on our property, he/she would apologize for doing something stupid and head to a doctor instead of an attorney. No one felt the need to carry expensive insurance. The public beaches had diving towers. Folks who wanted to live on the edge, could do so – at their own peril.

Of course, there is a price for all this protection. Our nephew, a successful orthopedic surgeon, said he would never go into medicine again. He said, “It’s just no fun since the lawyers took over.”  He counseled his son not to enter medicine. One wonders how much talent is lost to us because of our litigious society. I’m glad we didn’t know about the dangers that were lurking around us in our youth – the stress would have been unbearable – and made worse by not having anyone to sue.

Dean Munson

Yuba City