When We All Become Criminals

The whole Eric Gardner episode is an illustration of the heavy handedness of political power, Somehow we have gotten away from the idea that in a truly free society government interferes in the life of its citizens as little as possible thereby creating a situation where just about anyone can be arrested.

Law Puts Us All in Same Danger as Eric Garner

On the opening day of law school, I always counsel my first-year students never to support a law they are not willing to kill to enforce. Usually they greet this advice with something between skepticism and puzzlement, until I remind them that the police go armed to enforce the will of the state, and if you resist, they might kill you.
I wish this caution were only theoretical. It isn’t. Whatever your view on the refusal of a New York City grand jury to indict the police officer whose chokehold apparently led to the death of Eric Garner, it’s useful to remember the crime that Garner is alleged to have committed: He was selling individual cigarettes, or loosies, in violation of New York law.
The obvious racial dynamics of the case -- the police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, is white; Garner was black -- have sparked understandable outrage. But, at least among libertarians, so has the law that was being enforced. Wrote Nick Gillespie in the Daily Beast, “Clearly something has gone horribly wrong when a man lies dead after being confronted for selling cigarettes to willing buyers.” Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, appearing on MSNBC, also blamed the statute: “Some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive.”~snip~

The reality is that this actually goes way beyond cigarettes and black markets, what it's really about is just how much are we going to allow government to criminalize our activities.
For instance people should wear a seat belt because it's a good idea but a lot of states have mandatory seat belt laws that impose a fine if you or your passengers are caught not wearing one.
While not an arrest-able offense ignoring or not paying the fine is.
Warrants are issued for over due fines all the time and if you are confronted by a police officer then you are subject to arrest...by force if necessary. The reality is that government really requires you to wear a seat belt and if you don't pay a fine then they will potentially use force.
Is that an appropriate use of force by police? Over not wearing a seat belt?
Because that is really what instigated a potentially violent arrest.
Cigarettes or seat belts the question is do we really want to put citizens and police in these kinds of situations?
If they are it's not the cops fault but the politicians who pass ill considered laws in order to pander to specific groups.

Then there's the tyranny of the government using laws and regulations to target groups and individuals due to their political beliefs. Like the IRS did to conservative groups.
I've had the IRS pursue me for owing around $600.00, I'm politically conservative. Al Sharpton, liberal/democrat/race pimp, owes 4 million dollars and as far as I know still owes.

As Ann Coulter said, do not stand between a liberal and his taxes" that was Eric Gardner's mistake and the truth is it could happen to anyone.

Death and the Tyranny of the Nanny State

While the usual suspects are having a conniption over no charges being brought against the officers who used a choke hold on Eric Gardner resulting in his death, most of the media ignore the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Lessons from Eric Garner’s death and cigarette taxes

 Many people say his death is another case of white police brutality against black citizens. Lost in this public debate, though, is a key question: Why were police arresting Garner in the first place?

    Was he robbing a store or attacking innocent citizens? No, police arrested Garner supposedly for selling untaxed cigarettes. The strong-arm arresting process claimed Garner’s life, all over the sale of 75-cent loose cigarettes or “loosies.”

    High taxes produce underground markets for goods and services, and when these taxes are hiked, smuggling increases. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in New York City.

    In the name of cutting smoking rates, New York has the highest state cigarette tax at $4.35 per pack. New York City piles on an additional local cigarette tax of $1.50 per pack. Since 2006, the cigarette tax in New York state has been raised 190 percent. In response, cigarette smuggling there increased 59 percent. More than half of all cigarettes consumed in New York state are smuggled, according to a 2014 report by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.~snip~

Eric Gardners death is the result of nanny state meddling in the private decisions of individuals.
The leftist busybodies that now inhabit political offices have decided to rule by "let it be written,let it be done" decree without actually thinking about or being responsible for these decisions.
The question really isn't about whether smoking cigarettes is bad for you (it is) it's really about whether the government should be the ones to oppressively regulate it through taxation resulting in a black market situation where the police basically become tax enforcers.
Then enforce the tax with force.
Instead of condemning "white cops" killing a black man people should be wondering why the nanny state busy bodies created the circumstances that led to Eric Gardner's death in the first place.

You also have to wonder what's next, will NYC police officers be wrestling people to the ground who are in possession of 32 ounce sodas?

It's not as absurd as you think.