Nanny State Representatives

Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Congressman has written a bill to prohibit cell phone conversations on airplanes. He calls it the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (Hang Up) Act. It passed a key house committee yesterday. I guess this is where we ask for men to match the mountains. I would not be a fan of having people yak on their cellphones while sitting next to me on flights I question whether this flash of public policy has any reasonable justification.

DeFazio justifies this nonsense by saying the American people want it and without him, common courtesy will not happen. "With airline customer satisfaction at an all time low, this is not the time to consider making airplane travel even more torturous. Polls show the public overwhelmingly doesn’t want to be subjected to people talking on their cell phones on increasingly over-packed airplanes. However, with Internet access just around the corner on U.S. flights, it won’t be long before the ban on voice communications on in-flight planes is lifted. The HANG UP Act, would ensure that financially strapped airlines don’t drive us towards this noisome disruption in search of further revenue." In his press release, which is the real reason for the bill, he claims that without federal regulation people would still be smoking on planes. As I remember it, consumers griped and before federal regulation stepped in airlines were taking steps to ban smoking on flights. United banned it on certain flights and then extended the ban to other ones.

What utter nonsense. It is not hard to imagine why Congress has an approval rating approaching single digits.