Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog!

Authoritarian anti-liberal slant!

Via Taking Liberties

Simon Clark is just putting the finishing touches to the Forest submission to the government consultation on future tobacco control in the UK. If anyone is in any doubt about the extent to which this government will consider harassing and targeting smokers, read page 45 of the consultation document:

“Question 12: Do you believe that more should be done by the Government to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke within private dwellings or in vehicles used primarily for private purposes? If so, what do you think could be done?”

As you can see, it’s not just cars that are on the agenda, but “private dwellings” as well.

I don’t quite know what is more dangerous here, the ability of citizens to make their own decisions about smoking in their own cars or own homes (it is perfectly legal to do so) or the granting of powers to government that would allow it to control and regulate what we legally (for now) do in our own homes! This is just authoritarian crap and has no place in a liberal democracy.

You can join the responses to this government consultation exercise here and there is another online petition here to voice your protest at the growth of the nanny state organised by The Free Society.

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

New Labour is developing some very tedious and unwelcome state intrusions into our lives, they can be almost compared to the former stasi state of East Germany.

Btw, my objections to this insidious consultation are not connected in any way with smoking, but as a libertarian response to dangerous government.

Smoking is essential. As Sir Humphrey in “Yes Prime Minister” explains, smokers are voluntarily laying down their lives to help the rest of us. Their slow suicide brings in billions of revenue to the Treasury.Thanks to their premature deaths, often of sudden heart disease, they save the NHS billions in geriatric care. They also help to provide strong, regular profits to tobacco companies, helping all our pension funds. So non-smokers like me get plenty of benefits whilst the smokers get yellow teeth, bad breath, loss of willpower, they lose money and on average die early. Keep puffing away for my sake!

With apologies to Andrew Efiong

Meanwhile down in the bowels of the Kitchen our humble Devil reminds us (after ripping apart RIPA);

If there is one thing that history surely should have taught us by now it is that, when you give the state power, several things happen:

1. The state will abuse that power
2. The state will use the power to grant itself more power
3. Freedom will decrease
4. The state agents will attempt to ensure that they are exempt from the constraints thereby imposed

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