Quote 853“Judgment is given to men that they may use it. Because it may be used erroneously, are men to be told that they ought not to use it at all?” -- John Stuart MillWhat is a ban?An official or legal prohibition:Types of bansYou can ban...
Why are things banned?“Look at the moral atmosphere today. Every-thing enjoyable, from cigarettes to sex to ambition to the profit motive, is considered depraved or sinful.. Just to prove that a thing makes men happy- and you have dammed it.” -- Ayn RandThe reason why things are banned. People in power can't tell who will use them responsibly.
"I'm not Santa Claus. I can't figure out who's naughty and who's nice," he said. "So we went ahead and banned all of them."
Of those users that use the banned item, and are irreponsible
Banning is an archaic Victorian attitude, that has very little relevance in the 21st century PaternalismQuote 1119“Prohibition does not eliminate the demand for recreational drugs. People who want recreational drugs have access to illegal drugs as well as legal recreational drugs and inferior substitutes such as sniffing volatile solvents. Therefore one cannot sustain a claim that consumers are beneficiaries of prohibition.” -- IEAPaternalism implies an individuals choices for ones made by others. Prohibitions on child labour or maximum hours of work are based on the premise some people can not be expected to correctly judge their own welfare unaided. Instead of prohibition, it would be better to inform and dispel ignorance. Quote 1106“The case for a prohibition must ultimately involve a degree of paternalism (an assertion that people do not understand where their own ‘true’ interests lie – even before succumbing to addiction); an implicit claim that people are not well informed about consequences or probabilities; or an assertion that the costs of addiction are not truly ‘private’. ” -- IEAUnderstanding?"Public misunderstanding, ignorance and possibly contempt for liberty play into the hands of people who want to control our lives."
"One of the least-understood functions of private property rights is that of determining who may harm whom in what ways."
"If we banned or restricted all activities that affect, harm or have the possibility of harming other people, it wouldn't be a very nice life."
Has banning ever worked?Quote 1095“Just because the manufacture, distribution and sale of a product have been prohibited it does not necessarily follow that its manufacture, distribution and sale will cease.” -- IEAClearly not every kind of act that causes harm to others can be rightly prohibited. Banning fails for the following reasons
What is wrong with BanningThe US Constitution ‘valued liberty both as an end and as a means
Any centralised prohibition introduced to protect one class of people from making a ‘mistake’ and acting against their interests will simultaneously prevent another class from taking advantage of their greater local knowledge to improve their own welfare. legalising and taxing the money goes to government. Prohibiting pushes up prices and money goes to criminals. Companies like Toyota do not sell cars to minors. But these constraints do not apply in the black markets. Quite often banning a is a proxy, such as banning chewing gum instead of banning littering. Ban the 'wrong', not the product Costs of banningEnforcing prohibition involves a substantial direct financial cost. To detect, arrest, prosecute and finally punish those engaging in prohibited activities requires substantial resources for the police, the courts and other government agencies. This in no way counts the indirect costs, such as administration costs for compliance, or waste of resources to try to avoid detection, arrest, prosecution and punishment. Banning imposes significant costs on individuals and society as a whole and produces few benefits in return.
Alternatives to banningBan the 'wrong', not the product. For example if there are heroin needles lying about, don't ban heroin, ban the needles.
Quote 1102“It is possible to simultaneously believe that people should not consume a particular good or service and that that good or service should be legal; one simply believes that abstinence should be the result of individual choice, not government diktat. ” -- IEAIt is possible to believe that some thing should not be done, but do not wish to ban it. This can be a consistent position. You merely beleive that the activity such as smoking should be performed, but that people should make the choice not to smoke, rather than be co-erced not to make it. Banning things is a growth industryLink47Ban on Knives
Link49Banning pesticides
Link57Banning phones |
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