Liberty Pen: Milton Friedman- 'Bad Laws (1978)'

Source:Liberty Pen- Professor Milton Friedman, talking about bad laws, in 1978.

"Professor Friedman discusses how bad laws effect both behavior and morality:Liberty Pen."

From Liberty Pen

My definition of what Classical Liberal  Economist Milton Friedman called bad laws are laws designed to protect people from themselves rather than from the abuses of others.   

For example, a law making it illegal to attempt suicide and fail would be a bad law. Other examples of bad laws would be those requiring adults to wear seat belts or bike helmets. Adults who drive or ride in cars or ride bikes are more than capable of making these fundamental decisions for themselves. We don't need Big Brother to make these decisions for us.  After all if someone crashes in a car or on a bike, they are only hurting themselves.   

I think that seat belt and bike helmet laws make sense for minors because they're not legally responsible. Adults should have the right to make such decisions for themselves. Bad laws are the perfect example of what big government is. Government designed to take care of the people for themselves, instead of the people having the freedom to make their own decisions. 

Laws should be written to protect people from the abuses of others not from themselves.  It make sense that murder, rape, battery, terrorism, financial fraud, etc., are illegal because these laws protect innocent people from the abuses of others. 

But anti-gaming, marijuana, prostitution, homosexuality, etc., laws don't make sense because they are designed to protect adults from hurting themselves. We have ourselves, family, friends and colleagues to protect us with their informed advice and we don't need Big Brother doing that for us. 

But with limited government you only have a government that is limited to doing what we the people can't do for ourselves, or do as well. That has the authority under the U.S. Constitution and has been approved by Congress and the President. Who are supposed to represent and be accountable to the people that they represent. 

Instead of having a big government with some welfare state and board of experts there to decide what is best for everyone in the country. Including people they've never even met.  

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