MADD stands for (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) which was started back in 1980, after a mother lost her daughter to a driver with repeated drunk driving violations. While the incident certainly qualifies as tragic, and perhaps justice at that time was too lenient in regards to punishment and penalties for those that drove while obviously impaired, the pendulum has swung far to the other side in the present day. First off, “drunk” drivers are an obvious target to attack, since there are reliable scientific means to measure the blood alcohol content of a driver, however, just because a scientific instrument measures the blood alcohol content of an individual at .04% or .06% or .10% does not mean that the driver is actually impaired, even though the supporters of such a system want to sell you the illusion that this is true. While there does come the point when a person’s blood alcohol level is so high, that there is a fair “presumption” that that driver is impaired, that number will vary considerably from person-to-person, based on a number of factors such as: their age, their psyche, their fatigue, their driving skills, and the time period of the test in relation to when the drinks were consumed. In addition, there are a multitude of other reasons why some people could be impaired while driving far exceeding someone who is legally labeled as a DUI by State authorities, such as: medication, illegal drugs, temper, bad peripheral vision, bad depth perception, faulty side mirrors, fundamentally bad driving habits, cell phones, texting, radio, DVD, children, eating, applying makeup, fatigue, distraction, and just about anything else one can think up that would take away good concentration while driving.
The main problem with organizations such as MADD is that rather than going after specifically people that are truly a menace to others out on the open road and that should have their driver privileges revoked, they instead focus their attention on people that for the most part, are no danger and no menace whatsoever. This means that thousands of good citizens have their lives and their financial affairs negatively impacted each and every year, because the empowerment of MADD in conjunction with State authorities have set up a symbiotic industry that benefits State budgets, State courts, police organizations, attorneys, and other interested parties, on the backs of good taxpaying citizens, all under the guise of performing a proper civic duty. The money that comes from these drivers that have for the most part, not been in an accident, nor harmed anyone or anything, but simply been cited for having an arbitrary amount of blood alcohol in their bloodstream is a bonanza for those that receive it, but for those that are compelled to pay into it, it is often a real misery, which, in some cases, means termination of employment, restrictions of employment opportunities, and often times in essence the equivalence of carrying the scarlet letter “D” for the balance of their lives.
MADD isn’t really about going after the few drivers that are habitual offenders of driving while under the influence, but instead is more about empowering the State to have more control over the people, to let them know that the State has little or no interest in justice or fairness, but wants to impress upon its citizens the command, that they were born into this country not to be free, but to obey.