Not long after the old year had given way to the new, I was in an Ocean Boulevard crosswalk with a friend carrying a cupful of grog. “I hope that’s not a cop,” said my friend, indicating the car that had stopped for us as the object of his sentence and the contents of his mug as his cause for concern. I told him that I imagined the police had bigger fish to fry on New Year’s Eve, and I would be surprised and saddened to hear that anyone was stopped that night for nothing other than carrying an open container of alcohol (particularly were it something without a label screaming (e.g.) “Coors” of “Bud Light”). It’s about priorities.
I’d like to think it’s a sense of priorities that kept police from expending noticeable resources by the shoreline, where revelers shot off their own fireworks as a sort of complement to the larger, sanctioned explosions over the Queen Mary. By coincidence I happened to be quite near the largest of these auxiliary shows, and it was quite a blast to have these smallish fireworks popping off so close overheard.
Even ground-based fireworks are banned in Long Beach, and not without reason. But skyrockets, fabricated to move rapidly and explode dramatically, are even more dangerous. Close as I was to the impromptu launch site, an improperly-aimed skyrocket could have done me some damage. Fortunately, the amateur fireworks technician aimed them skyward and toward the water, and the only result was a good little show. It may have been illegal, but the more important question has to do with harm. And as they say in the self-regulated world of street basketball: No harm, no foul.
Life in a society with even a minimal degree of freedom is fraught with perils posed by one’s fellow citizens, and we have no choice but to hope that the people we encounter will not endanger us. There is perhaps no clearer example of that ethos than our willingness to set 16-year-olds loose with a ton of mechanized metal on wheels after only a semester’s worth of training and the passage of a rather pitiful pair of tests. Year after year these young drivers are responsible for much damage and death, but we let it roll, believing that on balance it’s better to allow individuals this freedom to act than to prohibit a behavior that is obviously quite dangerous. Similarly, with no training of any sort and the passage of a test that makes the DMV’s look like the Bar, we allow just about any non-felon over 21 to acquire hardware specifically designed to kill people. It’s all in the name of freedom.
These examples of perhaps too little regulation highlight one side of a picture of our country’s split personality when it comes to personal responsibility. On the other side lies the governmental overregulation conservative politicos like to refer to as the “nanny state” tendencies of Democrats, although Republicans are at least as guilty of the same. Our country seems to have forgotten its libertarianism, a spirit that guides one to enact and enforce only the laws and regulations absolutely needed to best promote a functioning society.
Several times during 2012 was I made aware of how this problem plays out locally. Alex’s Bar doesn’t allow dancing on its perfectly sound, three-foot-high stage because of concerns over what happens if someone falls off. The Coffee Cup Café just removed the benches formerly supplied for waiting customers because of a single complaint to the City. Any business that wants an acoustic-guitar trio to entertain its customers better get a permit, because otherwise municipal code allows for no more than a non-amplified duo. And don’t get me started on marijuana!
Last year in Long Beach there were well over 10,000 Code Enforcement “resolutions,” along with thousands of police citations and arrests. While I have little trouble imagining that most of these actions were for the public good, undoubtedly some were needless, causing trouble for individuals or businesses for no other reason than dogmatic adherence to this or that piece of legislation.
Some might label this a call for selective enforcement; all I can say is that one of my hopes for 2013 is that the powers-that-be — along with the rest of us — focus on what’s important, which in my book always comes down to avoiding harm. Perhaps it’s best that in Long Beach even small fireworks are permitted for use only by professionals. Nonetheless, that guy on the beach Monday night put on a fine show, doing so in a manner harmless to persons and property. I have one word for any police officers who saw this and turned a blind eye: Bravo.