Obama & the Nanny State

Some (not Rush, the other guys) see this election as an intellectual exercise. I don't. Formerly a Republican stronghold, the Chicago north shore suburb of Winnetka has been trending nanny-state for some time. Yes, it's prime upscale Obama territory, but there are a few of us conservatives still fighting the good fight. Sneed in the Chicago Sun Times:

Maybe I saw it; but, then again, maybe I didn't.

But I could have sworn I saw a rather large sign that read: "Go Sarah Go" or "You Go Girl" on Sheridan Road in Winnetka, a traditional Republican bastion, which disappeared in a matter of days last week.

I must have imagined things, but "signs can be removed if they are a visual road hazard," said a Winnetka police source. I guess somebody must have complained.

But strange things are happening in what was once viewed as a very conservative North Shore town: There seem to be more Obama signs than McCain placards.

(Next door in my suburb of Wilmette is the gracious home of Barack Obama's now convicted and jailed money man Tony Rezko.) A too large sign may have just been considered in bad taste, but just as likely it was a victim of a bad attitude. A bad liberal nanny no-no attitude. A couple of years ago Winnetka banned handheld cell phones while driving. But that was so 2006. We're now in iPhone territory and this is a serious infraction:

WINNETKA, IL—This normally peaceful suburban town is still reeling following the news Monday that a local resident, whose name is being withheld by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car parked in the hot sun.

"Responding to calls from concerned passersby, who observed the iPhone sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Westfield Shopping Center, police arrived on the scene at approximately 4 p.m. and immediately intervened to save the device," said Winnetka police chief Douglas Blaine. "Security cameras have shown that the iPhone had been in the car—with the doors locked and the windows rolled up—since 1 p.m. Due to the tragic and highly emotional nature of this case, we cannot say any more at this time."

Well, yeah it's The Onion, but read to the end for the final zinger. What are these nanny-staters nannying? You may well ask. No more protecting even innocent life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it's a ban on phones, a hit to free speech and hot pursuit (even punishment) of people minding their own business. Reason wondered this summer--what's the matter with Chicago, describing Obama's town as the biggest wet nurse in the country. Not a great image, not an endorsement, but it may not matter. So what's next?

-crossposted at LadyBlog