Prohibitions and the mob…
A really interesting Techdirt article from last week just hit the front page of Slashdot. It’s a really unique analysis about some economic and political lessons of history — and how copyright cartels (MPAA, RIAA, etc.) are fighting for, and in some cases, winning police powers to enforce their own rules.
I saw a comment that jogged my memory about some recent History Channel mafioso documentaries I’d taken in:
We’re now facing the same with the mafiaa [emphasis mine]. They are pushing at the lawmakers to install laws to protect their outdated business model, not wanting to realize that their time is over and they’re not needed anymore.
And I found it pretty interesting to see it put that way. One could argue (albeit one with a libertarian bent) that many of our current prohibitions only serve to protect business models of the mafia and other organized crime. After all, what brought the mafia its power in the U.S. in the first place? Prohibition.
Even today — drugs, gambling, prostition — all that which we prohibit is what serves to keep America’s seedy underbelly afloat. With the moral crusaders in full force these days, organized crime may not need much help — but if they had a lobbying arm (do they?), which side of these laws do you think they’d come down on? Without government help, their business models would quite obviously cease to exist.