Why Are We Legislating Common Sense, Now?

"Free Range Mother" Lenore Skenazy reports that a "'reasonable independence' law" is progressing through the Colorado legislature:

No need to call 911: The parents of these kids have already factored in the safety of the city they live in. (Image by Yannis Papanastasopoulos, via Unsplash, license.)

The Let Grow-inspired "Reasonable Independence" law passed the Colorado House Judiciary Committee on Thursday by a vote of 9 to 0. The bill, HB1147, guarantees that kids can do things like walk to school, play outside, or come home with a latchkey without this being mistaken for parental neglect.

The bipartisan committee's unanimous vote makes the bill's passage likely. It was inspired by Utah's "Free-Range Parenting" law, passed in 2018. [format edits, link in original]

I've commented mostly favorably on Skenazy's work as an advocate of giving children more independence here before, but it gives me pause to hear about laws like this, despite the small collection of horror stories on her site's policy page. That page also links to a model bill, which I assume is substantially the same as the one in Colorado.

I agree with the spirit of this law, but what it describes should be the default -- as it was when I was a child. But I discussed this at length before, when Utah passed its law:

My best first stab at this is that, culturally, too many of us are acting less and less like independent adults, and are using the government as a surrogate parent. Such people, to greater or lesser degrees, expect laws that protect people from themselves, and demand intrusions by government that would never have been tolerated even a generation ago. This leads to intrusive legislation and the "weaponization" of laws, such as those against neglect and abuse, for purposes never intended. Most people really just want to be left alone, but passively accept this state of affairs -- until, one day, as harried parents, they learn what this really means. Then, not having thought much before about politics, they do what everyone else does, and demand a law to protect their ability (Freedom isn't quite the right word here.) to perform the activity they understand not to be so dangerous.

I can understand why many conscientious parents are excited about this law, but it gives me pause when our freedom to act isn't protected under the law by default. This law might stop "weaponized busybodies" -- in the short term, from making our lives as parents more difficult -- but it is part of a very alarming broader trend, of the government permitting us to do prescribed things, rather than protecting our freedom to act according to our best judgement. (See the way marijuana is being "legalized.") The real problem that needs addressing is that too many Americans both take freedom for granted on a daily basis and yet are intellectually inclined to be suspicious of freedom -- and this combination sets us up for those who hate and fear liberty to run roughshod over the rest of us.

"Innocent until proved guilty" is a phrase usually associated with criminal trials, but that principle applies equally well to daily life, most of the time. These laws reek of asking the teacher for permission to use the bathroom. Adults -- including parents -- are supposed to be free to do what they judge best, not merely suffered to do the ordinary by the state. As I noted before, this is an attempt to fix, by law, a cultural problem caused primarily by busybodies empowered by the welfare state and fashionable interpretations of law, and otherwise good people who do nothing when they should stand up to such nonsense.

-- CAV