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I just heard what I think is a terrible atrocity (granted on the much milder-end of terrible atrocities) that no one seems to know or care about. Apparently Maryland requires that if you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea:
Failure to do this will result in your driver's license being revoked.
This really makes my blood boil. I found out about this because my friend in Maryland is one such person affected by this, with her extremely mild case of sleep apnea (that probably 75% of Americans actually have). She didn't bother with or really need the CPAP, but now, the DMV found out, and is threatening to revoke her license, so she has no choice. Hell, I'm a person who's been diagnosed with very mild sleep apnea, but I chose to not use the CPAP machine, because I couldn't stand having an intrusive device strapped onto my face with tubes running on my bed, pushing air down my throat all night every night. Provided I didn't sleep on my back, I was completely fine, and I didn't need to use the device at all. Since then, I've lost weight, and I don't have sleep apnea anymore, or at least not as much, but I don't even know if they ever declare someone as "no longer having sleep apnea", or if I'd actually pass that threshold, or if the DMV would care. My only saving grace is that I don't live in Maryland, but man, this makes me so scared about what might come next, and how long I'll get to keep my driver's license for before this either comes to my state, or some other health-related driving restrictions start cropping up.
This seems like such rampant safetyism to me that it honestly makes me so angry, probably angrier than I should be. I guess this seems like such government overreach, much in the same way as covid restrictions. Except that these restrictions really could last forever, and expand to other states, and never go away, unlike the covid restrictions. Did Maryland honestly have rampant cases of drivers falling asleep because they were so tired from their sleep apnea that they needed to mandate an intrusive, ongoing, never-ending medical treatment to save people from crashing their cars? Does this help anyone at all, or were they just looking to do some security theater?
I really want to do something to fight this before it expands. Is this the sort of thing the ACLU would take up the fight for? Are there any organizations that would actually fund and spearhead a class action lawsuit for this sort of thing?
Note to self - never check themotte right before bed just in case latest thing is your worst nightmare.
I would without exaggeration much prefer not to live anymore than to 'live' with my freedom of movement restricted by mandated reporting of my sleep data to the government. My dad had to do peritoneal dialysis overnight once upon a time so this feels close to home even without any experience with the exact topic.
Stalin would order Beria to have the people who came up with this shot, not unlike the guy who invented the brazen bull. If you or anyone else has any ideas about how to stop this - and I do mean the gestalt - I am fortunate enough to have a bit of free money and time.
Soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge; in that order.
This is obscure enough to not be as obviously political as say, mandatory vaccinations, but the logic is the same and I've seen activist movements for niche causes succeed because people on the ground cared to do something instead of sitting on their ass waiting for somebody else to deal with the problem.
If this is near and dear to your heart:
Essentially you need to position yourself such that some local politician can swoop in and take credit for saving you from the tyranny of the administrative state, and given enough time one will come along to claim the prize.
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