More Lead Lunacy
Posted in Literature, Poetry, and Books by Julie Ponzi
Here's yet
another report on the many ways in which the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is proving itself to be a wonder of stupidity and a master of harmful unintended consequences. Public libraries are being ordered to remove all pre-1986 children's books from their shelves. Fortunately, not even librarians (who, as a group, are not exactly known for their right-leaning politics) are as lacking in common sense as, apparently, our Congress is. Director of the American Library Association's Washington office, Emily Sheketoff said, "We're talking about tens of millions of copies of children's books that are perfectly safe. I wish a reasonable, rational person would just say, `This is stupid. What are we doing?'"
UPDATE: Also worth reading is this interview with Hugh Hewitt and Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair, Nancy Nord.
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As in the case of the EU's language censorship, this goes far beyond stupidity and any comment to the effect that it's stupid misses the point badly. What's happening here is an illustration of big government's ability to reach into undreamed-of corners of civil society and ordinary life. Bit by bit, society and ordinary life are losing their autonomy. It is Tocqueville's "soft despotism," and for those who are put out of business, or have their careers destroyed, or are perhaps ultimately jailed, there's not even anything "soft" about it.