Forty-three years ago, four students at Kent State University in Ohio were killed when the Ohio National Guard opened fire into a group protesting the Vietnam War. Another nine students were wounded.
Forty-three years later, it remains a mystery to me how anyone, Guardsman or officer or politician, could ever have thought that American soldiers should fire live ammunition into a crowd of protesting students. It is one of the enduring questions about the shooting that, I think, will never be satisfactorily answered. Kent State University, however, offers information that seeks to present the competing viewpoints on that issue and to answer other questions about the shootings and their aftermath.
Forty-three years is a long time. The Vietnam War and Cambodian invasion that prompted the protests that led to the shootings ended long ago. The lessons to be learned from the shootings, however, remain fresh and vital today. Kent State was an example of what can happen when government goes too far and forgets its ultimate role as protector of the people and guardian of individual liberties. American citizens therefore should be mindful, and skeptical, of the accumulation of governmental power. Blind trust in governmental institutions is not wise. I’m sure the students protesting on the Kent State campus 43 years ago never dreamed that the Ohio National Guard unit would fire — but it did.
That’s one reason why it’s an incident worth remembering.
It goes like this: The government imposes a silly, overly intrusive edict and claims it needs to do so to “promote health and safety” or hold down government spending. The stated purpose of the New York City Big Gulp ban was to prevent obesity, a condition that affects many Gothamites, and thus reduce city health costs. Never mind that obese people become obese for many reasons; Mayor Bloomberg decided to target big soda drinks. Then an industry group challenges the regulation in court, taxpayer-funded government lawyers and the industry-funded lawyers fight about the issue, and eventually a judge makes a ruling. Restraining orders get issued and appealed and the wheels of government grind to a halt while sideshow lawsuits addressing overreaching regulations command the public eye.
It happened in Cleveland, and it happened to a little boy getting ready to start kindergarten
The latest example of this reality is the news that 
Not too long ago, Stockton was on the move. It 
Childhood obesity is a problem in America — but when should the state intervene to deal with individual cases? County workers say the boy’s weight is due to his environment and his mother’s failure to follow doctor’s orders; they consider the boy’s condition to be just another form of medical neglect. The mother, and her lawyer, say the county overreached because the boy is in no immediate danger and the mother has been trying to control his weight. They note that the boy is on the honor roll and participates in school activities, and add that removing a child from his home and family and putting him foster care can cause its own harms.
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