Otto Warmbier, at trial
Why does everything need to be banned? Whenever there is a problem, however big or small, the immediate thought is to ban it. Even libertarians joke about how X or Y activity or thing should be banned. With the recent death of Otto Warmbier, an American who was kidnapped and thrown in a cage for a 15 year term starting last year in North Korea, there is growing talk of the US government restricting travel to North Korea. Is there such a pressing number of Americans going over there that the government needs to spend time stopping people from putting themselves in harms way? The results of travel to North Korea seem to speak for themselves. While its only been a few people, the proportion of tourists being kidnapped in North Korea seems to be the highest in the world. The only places more dangerous might be Afghanistan or Daesh Islamic State.
Last night I attended my first cop block event here in New Hampshire, where libertarians from across the country are migrating to help one of the most liberty-minded states become more so. Several times a year, police in Manchester set up a DUI (and every other driving offense, such as broken headlight) checkpoint. For years, libertarian activists, many of whom moved from other states like me, have been holding signs and shouting warnings at the entry to the checkpoint when drivers have one last chance to turn away. They have also filed lawsuits to make the police give clearer notice about these checkpoints, which have not been proven to reduce any harmful behavior, and mostly seem to net police departments fine money.
