How To Respond To Tucker Carlson's Call For a Federal Ban On Children Using Smartphones

Tucker Carlson

By Robert Wenzel

During a recent episode of his show, Tucker Carlson supported the idea that there should be a federal ban on children using smartphones.

He cited various conclusions from studies that showed that smartphone use was harmful to children. It could very well be that these studies are accurate. I have no idea.

But here is the thing.


This is a typical manner by which statists, and Tucker is acting like one here, expand the state. They find the easy cause for more government rule.

But if it does become accepted over time that smartphones are harmful to children, then schools will ban them and most parents won't let their children use them.

Thus, the call for a statist role in such a situation will come down to the outlier parent, who may have a damn good reason why he wants his child to use a smartphone, or an irresponsible parent.

Since actions are always about tradeoffs. The tradeoff here, in part, is the expansion and sanctioning of state rule.

Since the state has a remarkable tendency to expand. Do we really want to support the advancement of the state, since state structure are responsible for more deaths than nuclear bombs? --and, come to think of it, they are also responsible for all current nuclear attacks.

When Carlson just focuses on the few kids who may end up using a smartphone, he must be asked if he understands that such a demand is expanding a societal structure, government, that has killed hundreds of millions. Does he really understand the risks and dangers of such a law that would do little more in exchange than possibly protect a few outliers?

Statists are simply not deep thinkers. They see what is in front of them and not much else. That is why they can advocate for measures that in the end can be horrific compared to the real or imagined problem they want to solve.

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.