It Is By Now the Most Predictable Response

Namely, the political response to just about anything: Regulate.

Relevant quote from Herbie Spencer: "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."

(Specifically and appropriately: his essay "State tampering with money and banks", 1878.)

Or another relevant quote: When government treats adult citizens like irresponsible children, you eventually get a lot of adult citizens that behave like irresponsible children. (Me, at numerous places in this blog over the years.)

Briefly noted:

  • At the Federalist, Chad Felix Greene observes Whether Banning Christians Or Pushing Drag Queens, Public Library Radicals Are Calling All The Shots.

    Conservative Christian author, Kirk Cameron, has been rejected by roughly 50 public libraries on the basis of his religious beliefs, according to information released by his publisher, Brave Books. The Rochambeau Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island, for instance, openly dismissed Cameron’s request to share his new children’s book, “As You Grow,” saying, “We are a very queer-friendly library. Our messaging does not align.” The City Heights/Weingart Branch Library in San Diego, California, noted, “Because of how diverse our community is, I don’t know how many people you would get.”

    My own (perennial) examples:

    All 100% woke content. Feel free to look for any alternate viewpoints. Let me know if you find any; I will not be holding my breath.

  • Back in the first decade of this century, Jim Harper was a prominent foe of REAL ID (mentioned here a couple days ago). He takes a victory lap at AEI: You Don’t Need a REAL ID and You Never Will.

    [T]he most whopping of policies I have succeeded in opposing is the US federal REAL ID Act. This was a national identification (ID) law passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

    Everything you probably think about REAL ID is wrong. Most importantly, having a national ID would not secure cost-effectively against terrorism. It would waste privacy and erode civil liberties for no effective gain. Much of this ground is covered in my REAL ID–inspired book, Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood (Cato Institute, 2006).

    I reported on Identity Crisis back in 2009.