New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg is at it again. This time, it’s not soda’s he’s banning, but the sale of cigarettes to anyone under the age of 21. Apparently, “Bloomberg said the law will help prevent young people from experimenting with tobacco at the age when they are most likely to become addicted.”
Really? Because smoking was rampant at my high school, and virtually none of those kids were old enough to buy cigarettes legally. So there’s that.
But beyond the practical questions, there are the principled ones. 18-20 year olds can legally get married, fight and be killed in wars, be forced to pay taxes, take on mortgage debt, even receive death sentences. We recognize them in our legal code as adults who are responsible for their actions. But we don’t think they should be able to make choices about tobacco? Seriously?!
But that’s not even the most ridiculous ban in the news today. Nope, the Canadians beat us out on this one this week. The city of Vancouver has banned door knobs. Yes, you read that correctly. Door knobs. The problem is that door knobs require gripping and twisting, and some people find that difficult – say an older person with arthritis.
But the city isn’t just choosing to change out the door knobs in city-owned buildings, which might be a legitimate decision for them to make. No they’re banning all new door knobs, including in private homes, from March.
A professor of design in Toronto, Howard Gerry, said of the door knob, “I say, good riddance. It never functioned well. I don’t view it as a good piece of design.”
But if that’s the case, if door knobs are so terrible and the alternatives are so very superior, then isn’t it reasonable to assume that people would change out their door knobs voluntarily? If you have to use coercion – like this ban – to get people to ditch their door knobs, maybe that means they actually like the door knobs. Maybe they don’t find the gripping and twisting problematic. And surely that’s the sort of decision that individuals should be able to make about their own homes.
There’s just no end to government’s impulse to regulate, coerce, ban, and mandate based on their own arrogant ideas about what is best for people. Even when it comes to something as simple as door knobs.
