The 30-year countdown clock is now running
AOL News is reporting an AP story with the telling opening sentence, "Thirty years after it began as just another quirky movement in Berkeley, Calif., the push to ban smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places has reached a national milestone."
Think about all the other quirky ideas being kicked around, ideas that seem innocuous now yet are less than 30 years from being law. Vigilance over any attack on Liberty is a must. Simple movements slowly pervade the collective conscience - or, more aptly, the conscious of the collectivists - and become the next great idea for interventionism. Before you know it, the greater majority, inculcated at government schools, believe that the yoke of coercion and compulsion has always been present. And like many in the former Soviet republics, the majority begins to fear Liberty, and subsequently turns to government as the protector from that fear: Liberty.
Invite friends and acquaintances to Mises.org and let's continue to build the resource base to defend our prized Liberty against the "quirky" dreams of the do-gooders and their government allies. The 30-year clock is already ticking.
Comments (8)
banker
So where am I suppose to smoke Cuban cigars? Apparently, it is illegal to buy Cuban cigars and smoke? What is this world coming to?
I got an email advertisement about the Kennedy School of Government:
The essence of the Kennedy School has always been an abiding commitment to advancing the public interest by training skilled, enlightened leaders and solving public problems through world-class scholarship and active engagement with practitioners and decision-makers. The Kennedy School offers the depth, reflection, insight, and excellence of ideas and teaching that can really make a difference and make an impact on people and their daily lives.
How disgusting, people go to school just to learn how to rule over other people. How swell :(
Published: January 20, 2007 10:05 PM
Tom Schofield
Being from Massachusetts, I have always thought of the Kennedy School of Government as the Kennedy Refuge for Failed and/or Elderly Democrat Hacks. As for smoking, years ago the Wall Street Journal reported that tobacco use was becomming increasingly associated with the bottom of the economic ladder. These are the unforunates most easily cowed by the combination of government sticks and carrots weilded so enthusiasticly by our governing elites. The current crusade seems to be the elimination of C02 emissions by utilities. As America's poor freeze to death in their darkened homes, may they at least take some comfort from their tobacco - assuming they can pay the outrageous taxes on cigarrettes!
Published: January 21, 2007 6:52 AM
josh m
The problem is the gradualism we decry as a curse, the statists view as a blessing. Have you ever tried talking with the idiots who favor smoking bans? They applaud the idea that a stupid notion that’s dismissed prima facie can become the status quo over time. The idiots call that ‘progress.’ (Sorry for the rant).
Published: January 21, 2007 7:09 PM
banker
Curious, would it be treason if the governor of Florida secceeded from the United States? I wonder how exactly that would work. Would the president send troops into Florida to arrest the governor? These are very, shall we say, Roman-esque type questionos.
Published: January 22, 2007 12:24 AM
Sam
Actually, if the southern states are supposedly fairly old-time Conservative/Libertarian and the northerners are supposedly Neo-Con/Liberal then why not have another go at seceding? Half the States of America are probably going to do more good than just one State seceding. Surely the array of modern weaponary would be a better persuasion especially as the southerners (I believe) are 2nd Amendment lovers?
Published: January 22, 2007 12:44 AM
David White
Lew posted this map on the LRC blog the other day -- http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/350816052_0a392a0d28_o.jpg -- which makes it clear that the fifty states are plenty big enough to make their way in the world on their own, especiallly since they have institutions in place that are generally better than the countries whose GDP they are equivalent to.
Frankly, I expect movements like this -- www.vtcommons.org -- to snowball as the dollar declines, the economy weakens, and the geopolitical situation deteriorates.
Published: January 22, 2007 7:25 AM
Mark Brabson
banker:
Technically, it would be the state legislature, via an ordinance of secession that would carry out the act of secession, not the governor.
Published: January 22, 2007 7:33 AM
np
Cuban cigars are illegal? Good thing i'm going there next week to buy as many as i can.
Published: January 22, 2007 11:47 AM