The worst thing about the government’s plan to let some motorists install on-off switches for air bags doesn’t have anything to do with constitutional rights, free will, premature lawmaking or unfunded mandates.

The worst thing is what the plan says about the thought processes of those living and working in Washington. If White House spokesman Mike McCurry truly, as reported, called this “a common sense solution,” he should immediately be banned from any further contact with the president.

Here’s the plan (follow closely; stragglers will be left to fend for themselves): write to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and request an application form; get form from NHTSA, along with a brochure touting the benefits of airbags; fill out form, certifying that you read the brochure and that you qualify for a switch (shortness, certain medical conditions, carpooler of small children — fibbers may be prosecuted for perjury, so watch it); get notice of approval back from NHTSA; take approval to mechanic, pay $150 to $200 for a switch to shut off the air bag that cost $600 or so in the first place; get mechanic to send form to NHTSA certifying switch was installed properly; cower in fear as Air Bag Police investigate whether you actually are small enough, sick enough or have enough kids to be a legit switch owner.

Or, not that we endorse this option, one could snip the wire connecting the whatzit to the thingummy and cushion the impact of that next head-on with an armful of government paperwork.

No doubt, air bags are a good idea. They’re credited with saving some 2,600 lives in the last few years. But they’re also blamed with taking 87 lives, including 49 children. Just because something is a good idea does not mean the opposing bad idea should be a crime. And here, something that was good idea for 2,600 turned out to be a really bad idea for 87. Even if one concedes that air bags should be mandated, they clearly were mandated much too soon, before enough was known about them.

Last December, when the outcry against air bag deaths was at a fever pitch, President Clinton promised an easy way for motorists to get air bags deactivated. Somewhere between then and now, easy — just letting folks decide for themselves — became this exercise in bowing and scraping for approval, in making citizens prove to their government they deserve switches in their cars. The Nanny State is bad enough without Big Brother tagging along as the enforcer. We can hardly wait for that first big air-bag perjury trial.