Drunk driving is wrong. Drunk driving is irresponsible. But, in our society’s zeal to “get them” – them being drunk drivers, have extremist groups like MADD gone so far as to become so severely unreasonable (or even truly psychologically “mad”) that they themselves are harmful to our constitutionally-mandated way of life? With new gimmicky and scientifically unreliable alleged body-alcohol detection devices and methodologies coming on-stream every year — reinforced by gutless elected officials who enact more OWI laws and who drink too much, but are rarely arrested for their drunk driving (special treatment?) – the good, law-abiding public doesn’t stand a chance. MADD started out as a good idea but it has turned into a monster after “us” (the public) instead of real drunk drivers by severely reducing our fundamental 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment rights; particularly in the areas of privacy, self-incrimination, search and seizure, and the freedom to be left alone.
We, the public, continue to pay the financial, emotional, and psychological toll for OWI enforcement, but it is questionable whether we have bought any safety at all from drunk driving. The hardcore irresponsible drunk driver in our society is not going to be easily controlled, particularly by the well-meaning but ineffective efforts of those who think our criminal justice system can solve the OWI problem. Police should focus their efforts on the characteristics of this hardcore group instead of the population in general. People who conduct themselves in this manner can be spotted.
Law enforcement, too, has been duped by MADD and these other extremist groups; as well as, most definitely and primarily, legislators. The typical knee-jerk response of our legislators has been to enact more strict laws and more severe punishments at every turn. But, no statistics or records indicate that more severe punishments have been proven successful in reducing drunk driving.
Is MADD staying true to its stated mission “to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking,” or has this multi-million dollar lobby group ($23,968,470 in 2013) simply gone mad as it continues to chisel away at our fundamental liberties?