“Clichés”

September 18th, 2006 · No Comments · Uncategorized

At risk of delving into libertarian cliches, even if you buy the dubious notion that protecting us from "addictive behavior" is a legitimate function of government, even the most well-intentioned of paternalistic legislation is, ultimately, enforced at the point of a gun. The people who break these laws are arrested. The people who resist arrest risk getting shot. The end result of legislation like Frist's is, absurdly, that government will eventually use violence against American citizens to "protect" them from violating Sen. Bill Frist's morals.

Here's a real-world example: At last week's forum for my Overkill paper, I met Salvatore and Anita Culosi, parents of Sal Culosi, the Fairfax, Virginia optometrist shot and killed by a SWAT team earlier this year. The SWAT team came to Culosi's home to enforce Virginia's prohibition on gambling, ostensibly designed to "protect" Virginians like Sal Culosi from wagering their own money on games of chance. Culosi, an accomplished, single man who had the means to back up his wagers, had been placing bets on football games with friends. He's dead because there are people in Virginia government who fail to see the absurdity of sending a military unit to arrest a man guilty of nothing more than spending his own money in ways some people find unseemly. That's it.

I suppose Radley's right. It has become cliché.