When tiny magnets are outlawed, only outlaws will have tiny magnets

An ominous development I heard about today is a perfect example of the dynamics of power addiction that M. Simon mentioned in his latest post.

In case you hadn’t heard, the federal government is trying to ban the sale of certain tiny magnets — not to children (they’ve already done that), but to adults.

The CPSC (which mandates child car seats yet allows babies to be hauled through urban traffic on bicycle trailers) has decided that adult desk toys with magnets — in particular Buckyballs — are dangerous because unsupervised children who have issues that make them want to swallow objects are eating them and then the magnets damage their little colons or something.

So therefore, we — the once free adults who live in a once free country — cannot have small magnets either.

Amazon and many other retailers have already pulled them. But at Amazon you can still buy the Buckyballs book!

GRRRR.

On the bright side, this is the sort of thing that helps the Republican Party and fuels the Tea Party movement. The CPSC is crazy, and they are not called the Safety Nazis for nothing.

More here, and at the CPSC.

Freedom lover that I am, I see this as the parents’ responsibility. The government and a growing number of foolish, helpless people see these things as everyone’s responsibility, and so we are all pushed further and further into a degraded state of total childhood for everyone. The National Kindergarten triumphant. Again.

Never mind whether the Constitution gives the federal government the right to ban magnets, because this involves The Children!

It goes without saying that it’s ALWAYS the precious, helpless children who become the foot in the door for the heavy hand of statist control freaks who want to make us all into children in need of their “protection.”

What I would like to know is what sort of child eats inedible objects? I never did. And yet the CPSC is calling them a threat to children and teenagers! Teenagers? You know, there are adults who are compulsive swallowers too. Plus the retarded and the mentally ill. Why doesn’t the damn CPSC include them in its communitarian actuarial calculations?

Many things are dangerous. At this rate, we won’t be allowed to have matches or sharp objects.

I am reminded of the lead paint hysteria. This began when it was discovered that certain children ate lead paint and it supposedly lowered their IQ. What kind of mama lets her baby sit around and eat peeling paint, lead or otherwise? Did yours? And what kind of mama goes out and buys rare earth magnets and lets her kid eat them?

Anyway, I’m pissed, and if you’re pissed too, there’s still time to defy the CPSC and buy them here while you still can.

MORE: Do Buckyballs prolong life?

“Save our balls.” Buy here.

Michelle Malkin has weighed in.

So has Rush Limbaugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exF9_Um5Rd8

What I’d like to know is why no major politician is willing to say it’s time to eliminate the unconstitutional CPSC.

Cowards.

MORE: “This case sets up as a classic battle that features competing themes of child protection vs. personal responsibility.”

I’ll say.

This is a classic example of where statism’s bedfellows converge.

The Children!

I don’t have a child, but if I did, would I want the government to prevent me from buying small magnets.

I hope not.