What’s that loud background hum? No, it’s not a cricket invasion, it’s the sound of libertarians gnashing their teeth at a host of finger-wagging new state laws that go into effect Tuesday. Some of them seem like no-brainers – enforcing the seat belt rules for folks in the back seat, increasing the penalty for scamming old people, requiring defribillators at nursing homes, etc. Others seem a long time coming – being able to charge minors with public intoxication. (Contemporary state legislators apparently finally heard about my high school dances circa the mid-1980s, although “public obnoxiousness” would’ve been the more appropriate charge back then). And then there are the hinkier laws – no impersonating someone else on social networking sites. This is so rampant among younger adults I’ve talked to, it’ll be interesting to see how and under what circumstances the law would be prosecuted.
