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Notes -
Most Americans drink alcohol before they turn 21. A slim majority have tried pot at least once. The other major category of crime I'd put here is speeding, most Americans speed at least some of the time. And even people who don't commit these crimes themselves know people who do, who are normal and fine upstanding citizens. As a result, most young Americans experience of police is as someone you watch out for, a threat to your fun, rather than as a protective force of order. When society makes things that most people do illegal, they set up a conflict between the police and the citizenry. The police are in a relationship of distrust, rather than one of cooperation.
Police should only get involved where there is a clear distinction to be drawn between criminals and citizens. Tomorrow I'm going to my niece's sixth birthday party. If I told people there that I was going to the MNF game this week, and I planned to sucker punch someone in a Falcons jersey, as I do every time I go to an Eagles game (GO BIRDS), everyone would kind of edge away from me, and certainly mark me down as a bad person, not normal and not to be trusted. That should be the reaction if I tell people I plan to commit a crime!
Contrast. If I told people I was going to get my BMW up to 100 on the drive home on the turnpike, people might roll their eyes, they might think it's lame, but nobody would look at me and say "That's wrong, that's criminal!" More likely, someone would tell me to watch out for cops.
Weed is probably a little less accepted than speeding, but a certainly a lot more accepted than punching a stranger. If I told a stranger I smuggled my penjamin into the MNF game, and that I was going to get a little buzzed, how would the typical American react?
My opinion is that weed laws, drinking ages, and speed limits should be set up in such a way that most people would view breaking those laws as a bad thing, and view someone who admitted to breaking those laws as outside the norm. I contend that currently, those laws are set up in such a way that breaking them means nothing to most people, either for themselves or others. As a result, the respect for law as a whole is reduced.
Russ Roberts talks about how explaining basic economic ideas from his libertarian perspective "causes people to edge away from you". When you even ask about science on some topics, people edge away from you. In both cases, they will mark you down as a bad person, not normal and not to be trusted. So, this heuristic is pretty terrible for distinguishing anything real.
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