Noxious Do-Gooders

I suppose, in a perverse way, it’s good to know that besides the Stupid Party, we’ve still got the Evil Party in there kicking. This Saturday, thanks to some group called “Onward Austin,” voters in the Texas capital will decide whether smoking should be completely banned in bars, bowling alleys and pool halls. It’s already banned in restaurants.

Yeah, I know about all the health arguments about smoking, and I'm sure they're true, but that's beside the point. The quasi-Fascist, Do-Gooder impulse to take care of all us cretins because we are too backward to do it ourselves just drives me absolutely berserk. I’ve never smoked (cept occasionally), but people like this make me want to go light up the biggest, smelliest cigar I can find.

This sort of thing makes me wonder about self-government in general. Back in the bad old days, King George or whoever had to be very careful about too much legislation related to health, welfare, morals or whatever wasn't directly concerned with administration of the State, because the locals, having no say in their own government, didn't necessarily need to be reminded of that fact. As long as the peasants paid their taxes on time and showed up when they got drafted, the king could rest content.

But in a republic, where we, in theory, govern ourselves (under the guidance of the overclass of lawyers, bureaucrats and lobbyists) -- self-government is used by self-interested do-gooders to stick their interfering noses into just about everything. Democracy amounts to a hunting-license for organized busybodies. More on this point another time.