Los Angeles (July 9, 2008) – “Welcome to the nanny state nation, where the government minds your own business,” Drew Carey declares in a new Reason.tv video. After running through a laundry list of bans on everything from saggy pants to smoking outdoors to plastic bags and light bulbs, Carey asks, “When did so many of us turn into ban-happy busybodies?”
For decades, California has been at the forefront of the ban brigade. But Carey wonders, “Is New York City the new California? Let’s see. Smoking ban – check. Trans fat ban – check. Bans on aluminum bats – check. Ban on straddling a bike wearing inline skates drinking coffee on the subway? Check. Check. Check.”
“These various, and ridiculous, bans being implemented across the country reduce all of us to the status of children, incapable of making informed choices,” says Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason.tv. “Sadly, this paternalism and intolerance towards others is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary politics. It would be nice if our politicians could occasionally remind themselves this is a country founded on the idea of the individual’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Even if that means smoking, getting fat, and playing online poker while wearing saggy jeans in a room lit by incandescent light bulbs.”
Full Video Online
The Reason.tv Drew Carey video, Banned: Welcome to the Nanny State Nation, is online at http://reason.tv/video/show/466.html. An archive of Drew Carey’s Reason.tv videos is online at http://reason.tv/featuredvids/.
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Contact
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