Notable Quote - Walter Olsen - Granite Grok

Notable Quote – Walter Olsen

Just what I blogged about  here:  Nanniers and Busybodies in Government (emphasis mine):

The public is increasingly in revolt against “nanny state” interventions, from Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt to limit soda sizes in New York, to efforts to ban Happy Meals in San Francisco. Some thinkers dismiss concern about paternalism as merely trivial and personal, not on a par with issues acknowledged as “serious” such as police abuse, free speech, surveillance, and the proper functioning of the legal system. Left unchecked, however, the project of paternalism quickly generates very serious problems in each of those other areas: it gives police and enforcers great arbitrary power, hands a special government megaphone to some speakers while stifling others, funnels uncomfortably personal information into government hands, and fuels abusive litigation. No matter what you think of potato chips, if your interests are in liberty and good government, you should be paying attention.

– Walter Olsen, lawyer

In other words, an adaptation of the Giuliani “Broken Window” theory of crime – stop the small crime and over time it will stop the larger crime.  No longer would small time criminals be emboldened to move to bigger and larger crimes if they get nailed on the small stuff.  Freedom is the same.  Let these busybodies succeed with the small transgressions against your Freedom and Liberties, they will try to take more.  Like I said here:

Time to start figuratively punching these bullies in the nose – and keep punching every time they try it again.

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