How much is your moral outrage worth to you?

Three of the most archaic laws still on the books come with substantial opportunity costs that can be measured in dollars:

1) Ban on Marijuana.  By keeping pot illegal, we’re wasting money keeping non-violent felons in overcrowded jails, and depriving the state of billions in tax revenue.

2) Death Penalty.  It is more expensive for the state to execute a felon than to provide a life sentence.  This is due in large part to legal costs.  Turns out, when someone is scheduled to die, they will appeal to every court possible, and each time they do, the state has to waste money on their own lawyers who have to argue why it’s better to kill than to let live.

3) Gay Marriage.  To get married you need a license, that license costs money, and to deprive gays the right to get married is to deprive the state of millions in lost license fees.  Also, more marriages lead to more families, which increases the number of adoptions and lowers the amount of state money spent caring for orphans.

Each of these are reactionary.  Someone’s sensibilities are offended, so there’s a law.  With the economy sinking, moral outrage is now an unaffordable luxury.  We now have to make a choice between jailing potheads and fixing potholes.  I vote potholes.

by spiegelman