HISTORY REPEATS

SPRINGFIELD -- I think this proposal for colored license plates for
repeat drunk driversis a great idea. Let's ignore for a moment the
possibility that sometimes the spouse, children and other relatives of
repeat offenders might occasionally drive their car, that offenders
might not really own the car they drive, or what happens if they own
two or more cars?

Once we've got the repeat drunk drivers properly identified, we can
then require all people convicted of violent crimes to wear patches on
their clothes, or have a tattoo on their face or hands or something,
so everyone can clearly see what they have done. Then we can add drug
users, alcoholics and other convicted substance abusers, non-violent
criminals, people guilty of traffic violations, the homeless and
people with AIDS, cancer or other diseases.

Then we can make sure that homosexuals are properly marked. After that
we can start in on people who are of religious, ethnic or racial
backgrounds we don't like. Finally we can start making sure that
people who don't agree with our political and social beliefs and
policies are identified in the same way, so that we can be sure to
avoid and ridicule and harass and discriminate against them.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone else? It started this simply
with Hitler, too, all in the name of protecting the public.

Jeffrey R. Paine