The Fight Goes On
2008-01-04 20:22:43
By:
Gene Bromberg
Several times in the past I've linked to posts and columns written by Radley Balko, who blogs over at
Agitator.com and also writes for
Reason magazine and Fox News. Balko is a longtime opponent of laws banning online gaming (he testified before a Congressional committee last year about that very subject) and the other day
he published a column explaining why the WTO's decision to let the United States off the hook in its dispute with Antigua was bad news for everyone, even those with no interest in gambling online. Balko summerizes quite nicely why it seems like there's always someone looking over your shoulder:
From the right, many feel that if they're personally morally opposed to a particular consensual activity, it ought to be banned for everyone. From the left, it's the mentality that because some people can't engage in a particular activity responsibly and without harming themselves, that activity ought to be banned for everyone. One is moral paternalism. The other is Nanny State paternalism. But the result is the same. The government makes your decisions for you.
When you look at how well the U.S government (and state goverments, and local governments, etc etc etc) have been at making big decisions, you can understand why so many of us ardently oppose constant governmental meddling in our lives. Of course not everyone believes that "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"
which were spelled out in the Declaration of Independence, as as unalienable a right as Thomas Jefferson intended. Balko received a depressing and disturbing email that he posted on his blog:
Most civilized people who live in a common set of geographical boundaries agree to live by a common set of rules, regulations, and laws. Governments tax, outlaw, and restrict bad behavior and encourage, reward, and promote other good behavior. Simple; It isn't about freedom to do wrong things it's about being free to do the right things.
The italics are Balko's, and I'm sure you can see why he found those words especially disagreeable. There are a lot of people who think that you don't have the right to do "wrong" things--and, have no fear, these folks have strong opinions on what exactly is "wrong". Unless we want to live in a society where liberty is defined down so that it doesn't cover anything that might offend, irritate or discomfit a tiny (but noisy) minority, the reasonable majority have to start standing up and making their voices heard.
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