Forbes Skewers Government Busybodies

The Cato Institute's Radley Balko does a great riff on government prigs and busybodies in the new issue of Forbes:

Consider your pet. Surely Fido or Mittens is immune from government scrutiny, right? Nope. San Francisco passed a new building code earlier this year — for doghouses. In case you were considering a pair of double-Ds for your schipperke, West Hollywood, Calif. is considering a law that would ban cosmetic surgery for pets. And the state of California has banned genetically modified fish in your aquarium.

Lawmakers are also prone to banning trends they don't understand, or just find icky. Wyoming is debating a regulation that would prohibit facial jewelry in the food service industry, an apparent attempt to keep the alternative girl's eyebrow ring from dropping into your macchiato, even though its backers couldn't cite a single such incident. A Texas lawmaker has introduced a bill that would outlaw "sexually suggestive" dance moves in cheerleading routines. California bans tanning beds for kids under 14, citing studies linking tanning beds to skin cancer. No word on whether they'll bar kids from lying in the sun, too. And the U.S. Supreme Court recently let stand an Alabama ban on sex toys.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[NOTR]

Alabammy's ban on sex toys? Not exactly. The politicians in Alabama have not outlawed the use or possession of sex toys. They have outlawed the selling of these devices. The case is still in the courts after three women sued saying they had a constitutional right to the "medical benefits" they received from their vibrators. Yeah, I know...that is as logical as banning the sale in the first place. It is what happens when politicians decide to impose their view of morality on citizens for the common good of all. It's called democracy, a.k.a mob rule, or in the State of Alabammy, politicians protecting the good citizens from freedom of choice.

[MoebiusLost]

Spot on NOTR.