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.
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How do they enforce this? Do they take down the license number and time of day every time someone passes the sign, and then meticulously search through all these records looking for matches within a 6-hour period? I suppose if they enter all the data into a computer it would be possible. But whose collecting all the data?
If there’s a “no cruising” zone near your home, does this mean anywhere you’re not allowed to leave home twice within 6 hours? Like if you go to the store, come home, and then go to pick up your kids from a school event, that’s a crime?
Does it count only going in one direction or going either way? If either way, then anywhere you go, you either have to stay there for 6 hours before coming home, or find another route.
I suspect this is one of those laws that is not consistently enforce. They put it on the books so they can arrest people who they think are trouble makers but who they haven’t actually caught at anything, while letting most people routinely break it. It’s one of those laws that let’s the police arrest almost anyone they feel like without having to show they actually robbed or killed anyone.
VA Beach, VA has, or at least had, such a thing. Seems to me there are similar “laws” on Md’s eastern shore.
Stupid is as stupid does.
“If I’m a random idiot looking to buy some drugs or sex”
No need to offend people trying to live out their own free will.
Driving around the block looking for a parking space is illegal?
These laws go back decades.
….
(*) Zero emission vehicles and carpools may pass every 2 hours.