“Better that 100 innocents burn than one witch escape”…. saith the Grand inquisitor.
“Better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.” saith Blackstone.
“Tiz Better to er on the side of Liberty than tyranny.”
A Libertarian Maxim.
So many issues confronting legislators are hard to decide.
When tempers and fears…. and vested interests are threatened many things are deemed to be ‘scientifically proven to be evil…. only later to be discovered that it was ‘Science falsely so-called’
Only Fools believe that it is the duty of Government to investigate all things and legislate accordingly…. Once general principles of Liberty and justice have been established, if a certain thing upsets a particular sector of society… yet cannot be certainly proven to contravene those principles… the practice ought not to be banned, and society ought to be left to deal with it via their personal domain of self responsibility, and Freedom.
Even when certain practices have strong evidence to be harmful, it does not automatically justify prohibitions.
There are principles of self ownership, Liberty, etc which protect the individual from becomming the subject of the Government.
Eg Cigarettes may be hazardous, yet they ought not to be banned.
Anti-smoking groups are of course free to preach against smoking, yet society must take care that their constituted legislators are forbidden from making Laws which violate personal sovereignty and responsibility.
A persons Health… what they choose to consume… is their own business.
Does Gay marriage encroach upon the rights and liberties of Straights?
It may be indirectly detrimental… yet still it is better to er on the side of Liberty.
Party Pills, synthetic cannabis… are they really dangerous to those who consume them?
What sort of relevance does that question even really have in regards to justice and the question of their Legitimate rights and liberties???
None!
They should be legal, and it be a matter of personal responsibility whether or not an individual chooses to Use or abstain.
Sudafed ought to be Legal.
Guns should not be Banned.
You should be allowed to ride your motorbike without a helmet.
Currently their is a witch-craze brewing in regards to synthetic cannabis.
‘Reports are flowing in that it is Harmful…. causing psychosis, etc…. yet how much weight should we put on such claims?
Others say…. we dont have enough ‘good scientific Data’ to determine if said products are ‘safer than alcohol’…. all of which is ridiculous given that alcohol is lethal… and the question of the Safety of a product like synthetic cannabis… is irrelevant!
It’s a Bogus concept from start to Finnish!
I dont expect the sheeple to understand this.
They are Idiots who worship the State and expect to be treated like children… yet I am gob smacked…. I am appalled by the so-called ‘Liberals’ who have forsaken the tenets of Liberty and have become the advocates on Nanny State…. under the guise of ‘public Safety’!
What is even more despicable is that Many are doing so for the most underhanded reasons…. they have an agenda whereby they gain Liberty for themselves at the expense of another unpopular minority… a lot like Nazi Collaborators who thought it expedient to betray Jews and gypsies.
The greatest problem with being a Libertarian Idealist is that Everyone is against you… even many who pretend to be ‘Libertarians!’
99% of Everyone has Pet hates and prejudices which they think vindicates oppressive powers of State!
Everyone wants freedom for themselves, yet desire the State to trample over some particular ‘rodent population’.
“He who would sacrifice Freedom for Safety, deserves neither” Benjimin Franklin.
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. Herbert Spencer.
“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
Albert Camus
“Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not it’s inhumanity, but it’s anti-humanity.”
Eric Hoffer
“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.”
Thomas Paine
“Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of “emergency”. It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe…And “emergency” became the justification of subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains.”
Herbert Hoover
The Greatest lie of all is that if something is legal it must be ‘safe’… and therefore unless we know something is Safe…. it ought to be made illegal.
*This is the very antithesis of Libertarian Liberty and self responsibility!
It is the recipe for Totalitarian Nanny State!
Nothing Negates Moral self-responsibility for Independent Adults!
Only Force and Fraud can be rightfully outlawed.
It’s not the governments fault when a fool drinks or smokes himself to death… It’s his own fault!
Stop trying to make the State responsible for everything!
If you believe something is Bad… Use your legitimate powers to enlighten and warn others… but never call for an expansion of Government or for Laws which encroach into the domain of Liberty and self-responsibility.
Only when you see Force or fraud ought you to intervene, and call the Police.
What matters is Freedom and individual rights and sovereignty…. not some fictitious safety standard!
Leave individuals free to determine the Risk/ benefits.
The Grand inquisition.
Spare me all the bitching about how your Teens wont obey you… how they wont talk to you any more!
Dont blame it on the drugs…. how about looking in the mirror when you are nutting out like a Lunatic!
How do you expect your youth to respond to such lunacy?
Maybe whats going on in regards to your failing relationships has more to do with your incompetence, Bigotry, and Hypocrisy rather than ‘evidence’ that Drugs are adversely effecting your Young adults Brains.????
And what good do you think getting the Police to impose your Fanaticism upon to them is going to do????
What is the ultimate Irony of all is that the Drug war is absolutely disastrous with regards to the safety and well being of our Youth… and expanding it is the absolute worst thing to do.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Read more….
Albert J Nock and the Atrophy of Charity and Self-Reliance.
Life before Suffocating Nanny State Bubble wrap.
Forbes: Everything You’ve Heard About Crack And Meth Is Wrong
Let’s talk rationally about Synthetic Cannabis and how society ought to manage it.
New Prohibitions. How our Police and Government work for Criminal Gangs.
The Broad way. Morality by vote. Social Arbitrary Law.
Tim Wikiriwhi’s Submission to the New Zealand Government’s Constitutional Review. 2013
Tim, this is a great post!
It’s pure Libertarianism 101! It takes me back to the heyday of the Libz, circa 2005.
But … recall that by 2008 the Libz had developed a set of *transitional* policies. I don’t think anyone was actually in favour of implementing the full gamut of Libz policies overnight, should Libz have (by some miracle) formed the next government. Why not transition to a libertarian society overnight? Because utter chaos would ensue. Society would break down and there would be rioting and people spilling out onto the streets setting fire to and overturning cars …
I’m going to turn the rest of this comment into a blog post. 🙂 But, to cut a long post short, I think we need to develop a *new* set of principles, principles whereby we may judge the goodness of transitional policies …
In 2007 I proposed the Libertarianz Transitional Drug Policy.
In 2013 Parliament enacted the Psychoactive Substances Act.
Note the similarities and differences between my transitional drug policy and the government’s transitional drug policy … for that is what the PSA is, or, at least, that is how it must be assessed … as a transitional drug policy. On that basis, or, indeed, any basis, I judge it to be pure evil!
I am quite supportive of the Libz transitional strategy because it was pragmatic…. yet without selling out anyone.
More white… with no new black…. ie had their been a suggestion to Legalise heroin before Pot, the Libz would never have rejected that under the guise that their transitional policy represented anything more than a tool to best function under a feeble democracy.
Ie they would never have complained about the ‘grace period’ given to certain legal highs under the PSB, or have sided with the prohibitionist on this matter.
The rationale of the Libz was quite correct…. Ending Cannabis prohibition is *always* going to precede the legalisation of Heroin…because of how democracy works.
More white… with no new black….
Tim, have you actually read the Psychoactive Substances Act? It’s overwhelmingly black.
The Psychoactive Substances Act is the Misuse of Drugs Act on steroids! Total control over you!! “If you must use drugs, use these ones.”
‘Tis an ill wind that blows no minds
The problem I see with liberitiarnism is some one like me who knows how to use a gun and has experienced violence first hand has a massive strategic advantage over what you so insulting call sheeple. I’m personally in favor of being unhindered by a controlling state in the pursuit of my needs for survival, but many I care about are terrified and rightly so at such a prospect. The usual solution to this, the ACT solution, is to say hang on to the cops courts and prisons, what I call the repressive face of the state. But to ditch all the protections for the weak like labour laws, environmental laws, food safety and drug safety. That is the worst kind of liberal in my opinion to make the state responsible for protecting my property but not your for protecting your health. Some of us have chosen to tone down your liberalism for the sake of the weak who need the state, you call them sheep I call them children the disabled women and pacifists. Don’t they have the right to choose a protective state to care for them? We can’t have it one way on property rights and another way on all rights. Sorry but’s just hypocritical.
The weak don’t need the state, they need someone to care for them. Someone like … you?
But then they have to obey me, I’m led to believe from a couple of exs the state is preferable. The question is don’t they have the right to choose to have the state do this for them?
Strings attached charity is no charity at all.
You said what I was thinking, but said it in a much nicer way.
No need to resort to veiled ad hominems.
There is no justification for the existence of the state whatsoever, save for Romans 13. And (the way I read it) Paul makes it quite clear what constitutes a legitimate governing authority. A legitimate governing authority must be “God’s servant for your good.” (NIV) Legitimate governing authorities must be “God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.” (NIV) What state fits the foregoing description? None that I know of.
Anyway why would I want to? I’m not about to join Cunliffe I was actually asked to run for them in one of their seats. I don’t want a state at all, but respectfully accept those around do, if we have one instead of attacking it on principle let’s defend the rights we need the most. Stop the armed wing spying on us and entering our homes, stop the large corporate individuals using it to make their ideal business environment at expense of private individuals and small business, if you protect the corporation with property law protect the worker as well with labour law.
“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.”
Thomas Paine
Tricky one, this.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” – C. S. Lewis
“It’s tricky.” – Run DMC
Satan appears as an Angel of Light.
The Psychoactive Substances Act masquerades as sensible drug law reform.