More Libertarian Humor

by Dan Mitchell  @ International Liberty

It’s difficult to be a libertarian.

Politicians and bureaucrats do so many foolish things that you can spending your entire day being outraged.

But that’s probably not healthy, so it’s good to keep things in perspective with some political humor.
Even if libertarians are the ones being mocked, and that’s the case for my most-viewed post on libertarian humor.

Fortunately, some libertarians are capable of generating anti-government humor.

Such as Libertarian Jesus, which has been my most-popular example of pro-libertarian humor.
And here’s a new addition to my collection. We can all relax because Los Angeles is dealing the crisis of…GASP…driving past the same spot twice in a 6-hour period! And somebody at Reddit decided this merited some sarcastic applause.

Huh?!? I’m trying to imagine what could motivate such a law.

• Does Los Angeles actually have a problem with people driving past the same point every six hours?
• What victims are being saved thanks to this law?
• Do cops in the city really have nothing better to do with their time?
• If this street is between you and your local supermarket, do you have to…ahem…cruise the produce section for six hours before heading home?

Being a diligent researcher, I tried to find the answer to these question. Lo and behold, here’s the relevant passage from the underlying law establishing L.A.M.C. 80.36.10.

This Ordinance is urgently necessary for the preservation of the public health and safety. Cruising has resulted in the congregating of persons in certain areas engaging in destructive activities. It has also resulted in traffic congestion.

The law doesn’t tell us what “destructive activities” are being facilitated by driving past the same spot more than once in a six-hour period.

Though I’m guessing it must have something to do with the drug trade or prostitution.

Like most liberty-minded people, I don’t think the government should make it illegal for people to do stupid things to themselves. I believe in being tough on crime, but a real crime has to have a real victim.

But let’s set aside my libertarian grousing and focus on a practical issue.

If I’m a random idiot looking to buy some drugs or sex, what’s to prevent me from driving to the relevant part of town and conducting that transaction without circling past the same spot more than one time?

Since I don’t consume drugs and don’t consort with prostitutes (other than the non-sexual ones that are so common in Washington), maybe there’s something about those markets that I don’t understand. So perhaps a no-cruising rule will have a genuinely disruptive effect.

I’m guessing though, that this is akin to money-laundering laws, which were passed – at least in theory – to discourage crime by making it harder for crooks to get their loot into the financial system.
But these laws have imposed very high costs on law-abiding people and institutions while having no measurable impact on actual criminal activity.

So it’s very likely that anti-cruising laws in Los Angeles won’t have any impact of drugs or prostitution.

P.S. It’s not libertarian-specific humor, but let’s end with a joke about how President Obama dealt money-laundering laws.