Author Topic: There Ought Not to Be a Law  (Read 280 times)

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Offline EasyAce

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There Ought Not to Be a Law
« on: March 13, 2018, 04:30:22 pm »
The world is an imperfect place, but laws tend to make things worse, not better
By J.D. Tuccille
http://reason.com/archives/2018/03/13/there-ought-not-be-a-law

Quote
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wants limits on virtual currencies, like Bitcoin, that help people keep their financial lives private from folks like him. Senator Dianne Feinstein

wants government regulation of political speech by foreign agents—or maybe just by people with whom she disagrees. Gun control activists want more restrictions with which to threaten peaceful gun owners so that violent predators who break laws will have more things to ignore.

If ever there was a "there oughta be a law moment," we're living in it. At least, we're living in one of all too many such moments. Because people are forever looking to the law as the solution to the ills they perceive in the world around them—often only to spackle over the failures of the previous round of laws. In the process, they're forever forgetting that laws are usually nothing more than codified prejudices, imposed against resistant populations, by sometimes incompetent and often corrupt enforcers . . .

. . . Law is crude, at best. It's a weapon in the hands of politicians seeking to rouse up their base in support of themselves—and against their enemies. It's a tool that people envision as a shield against their fears, but which are then interpreted by enforcers in often unexpected ways, and sometimes for personal gain . . .
« Last Edit: March 13, 2018, 04:30:59 pm by EasyAce »


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Offline LMAO

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Re: There Ought Not to Be a Law
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2018, 04:41:41 pm »
"In the process, they're forever forgetting that laws are usually nothing more than codified prejudices, imposed against resistant populations, by sometimes incompetent and often corrupt enforcers . . ."


Well put by the writer. Think Prohibition
I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them.

Barry Goldwater

http://www.usdebtclock.org

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