Walkin’ and Talkin’
January 27, 2011
Once again, the state is called upon to forcibly deprive some persons of advantages they enjoy that others do not. Legislatures in at least three states — New York, California, and Oregon — are considering bills that would criminalize “distracted walking” (i.e., people who walk while talking on a cell phone, listening to a tape recorder, etc.) It is suspected that those members of the boobeoisie who cannot walk and chew gum at the same time want the state to penalize those who have mastered this task!
Butler Shaffer was Professor Emeritus at Southwestern University School of Law. He is the author of In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918–1938, Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival, and Boundaries of Order. His latest book is The Wizards of Ozymandias.
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