Would Government Regulation of Diving Be So Bad?

[damsel]

Depends on which party is in power.
A true conservative will never regulate diving.
A true liberal can't wait to do so.
Then there are all those in between.

Hey now. This true liberal over here is taking serious offense at that, bucko. I like my healthcare nationalised, my state a welfare one and my diving UNREGULATED BY GOVERNMENT. ^_^

 

[sea nmf]

There is no constitutional mandate for the government to get involved in any recreational activity that doesn't have significant *public* safety implications. Hurtling along the public highways in several tons of steel, or through the skies in several tons of metal have significant public safety consequences beyond the safety of the operator, and licensing is appropriate. Diving isn't like that.
As much as some of you would like to use the long hand of the law to keep others from being idiots in *all* situations, you just don't have that right except in cases where individual idiocy has a significant impact on public (read *your*) safety.
Freedom requires constant vigilance to protect it not only from the enemies who would enslave us from without, but especially from those well-meaning do-gooders who think I need protection from myself and would use the government to save me.
Well, no thanks.
Rick

Couldn't agree more. This reflects my opinion entirely.

 

[ShakaZulu]

I like how the law is always used to "protect the moron" and everyone else have to suffer............

 

[dweeb]

Hey now. This true liberal over here is taking serious offense at that, bucko. I like my healthcare nationalised, my state a welfare one and my diving UNREGULATED BY GOVERNMENT. ^_^

Then you're not thinking like a true liberal driven by principle; you're thinking like an opportunist driven by whether your own ox is being gored. The real test of your ideological mettle is your willingness to apply principles consistently even when it conflicts with your personal self interest. Any logical case for socialized healthcare or welfare is directly extendable to diving regulation.

Which leads us to the corollary to Andy's question - if you've commented here, please tell us whether you personally might benefit from the regulation under discussion. Let's face it, there will be advantage to be culled from such a situation.

 

[sea nmf]

One more thing. Many of the posts seem to assume that the regulation would be testing only. If diving was regulated, the general public would not have much say in how they chose to regulate it. It may not stop at testing.

Just too many unknowns.

 

[dweeb]

Andy, i think dweeb loves you. You better watch out!

Nah, although Boatlawyer's comments did set my heart to pounding.

 

[Tobagoman]

This is going to be a volatile subject, so please NO PERSONAL ATTACKS allowed. address issues and ideas, not people. if you call anyone a name, your post will be pulled, no questions asked.

As to the ideas themselves, please speak freely.

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We often hear "let's police ourselves before the government steps in."

What if "self-policing" has failed? The training standards
are compromised, some might argue, new divers are at
their unsafest level ever, more and more instructors are
teaching without a basic understanding themselves.

Only a government entity (immune from commercial pressures) can ensure that standards are
not only SET IN PAPER but also ADHERED to in training.

How? Easy -- a standarized test administered by official
test-givers. Pilots have to pass an FAA test, though their training can be private. Why not the same for divers?

Wouldn't divers be safer if someone WITHOUT A PROFIT MOTIVE was in charge of evaluating diver skills prior to
handing them a c-card?

Read the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The federal government has no business putting their noses in anything like that. The USC&BOA describe what little powers the government is limited to. Unfortunetly, that sacred document is many times ignored in favor of Big Government/Big Brother and they have stuck there noses into many areas that they don't belong!!

 

[Snowbear]

...As a lawyer...

Careful, dweeb - I know from my own experience you may have touched a nerve here..... :11::11:

 

[H2Andy]

- after all - you know - divers can steal the most important secrets of the party and country.

And they did. We got a lot of cold war intel by tapping phone cables laid across the bottom of harbors in Warsaw-Pact nations.

no they didn't. no recreational diver ever stole any secrets
from the Ruskies by tapping cables.

the cable tappings were accomplished by specialized submarines and US Navy divers.

also, only two cable tappings have been declasified that i am
aware of (Murmansk and Oskhosh (sp?), so you are either
making stuff up or violating national security.

 

[H2Andy]

To whom are you speaking?

Un petite moi?

if the shoe fits...