Best quote of all!

"""
if there is an injured party
go to court..no injured party go away
"""

Thankyou, UOG. All that needs to be said :)

A prime example of bureaucratic nanny state is the bit of road Gold Coast side of the Canungra army base.

The road through the little range & for the next 12Km used to be all 100Km/Hour. Occasionally a tourist not looking where he was going, or a local trying to be the next Fangio, doing 140KM/H, would run off the road into the scenery.

Some bureaucrat reduced the speed limit through the little range to 80Km/H. Guess what, just as many tourists or local twits would run off into the scenery just as before.

Another, or perhaps the same bureaucrat reduced the limit through the range to 70Km/H, & the next few kilometers to 90Km/h.

You wont believe it, but they still run off into the scenery, & a local cop told me, that even more do it now, since the change in limits.

This could be because locals are annoyed, & particularly now that the 10 stretches of broken line overtaking places on the whole 12Km trip have now been over painted with double lines.

It must be safer you know, if no one can pass an overloaded turf farm truck, trundling along at 45Km/H. Well it may be if annoyed locals had not decided to ignore all damn fool road rules, & with that, some that aren't so silly as well.

Nanny state, what's that. Probably some inner city living bureaucrat, who probably doesn't drive stuffing up the lives of real people.

Well it depends on what you mean by the Nanny State. There is a case for too much interference by the State including a personal beef of recently installed Point-to-Poing or 'averaging' speed cameras which smacks too much of big brother.

However some right wing extremists view universal health care as 'nanny state'. The long queues of working poor in America unable to afford basic health care would suggest some government services are beneficial for the greater collective good.

It is about defining what should come under the umbrella of government and what can be left to the individual - I would advocate an increase in direct democracy where practicable in this regard. Many opponents of the nanny state seem quite willing to hold their hands out when grants, rebates, stimulus packages or bail outs are offered.

OUG really lets it rip, doesn't he:) That's the Australian spirt..lol...go get'em boy:)

Poor belly, he's like that boxer that wont stay down.

What a champ:)

Hasbeens interesting play with words caught my attention with the slagging of city people once again. Your right Hasbeen, let the country folk run the country......well they couldn't do any worst:)

Iam worried about that strip of road he mentioned:) are we Australians all that thick? or just the idiots that live near there:)

You be the judge:)

CACTUS

Thanks!
Most posts prove we need a nanny state.
Abbott, last night, named poker machine laws as a nanny state issue.
Now NSW the home of them, is a cesspool.
Remember publicans are not clubs.
And rake in millions.
In areas that see gamblers go to the salvation army for food.
Please do not focus on Political Correctness, it is a separate issue.
Sydney has a PC Mayoress,who could turn milk in to concrete,separate issue.
Not too many laws RObert, too many silly ones.
Cactus 2 far too much self confidence! target me, but know, you earn your reputation by your own actions.
I am not trying to change the world in this thread.
But I would like to highlight this.
A total end to protectionism , nanny state? will leave some far behind us all
Are our freedoms worth that?

"Not too many laws RObert, too many silly ones."

Belly I think it's too many laws rather than too many silly ones. Most of them can be justified in some way but the cumulative effect on lives is not taken into account. There is normally a good reason for every new law, every new regulation, every new government intervention. They are there to protect or help someone and generally at a cost to someone.

We need a better balance in how much of that intervention the government does.

I think your attempts to portray this as an all or nothing scenario are a straw man argument, there are not many true anarchists around, wanting some moderation is government excess is not an extreme position.

R0bert