Let’s briefly address this absurd bag ban in Austin.

On March 1st of this year, the ordinance passed by the Austin City Council for the regulation of single-use carry out bags went into effect. It states:

Beginning March 1, 2013, a business establishment within the City limits may not provide single-use carryout bags to its customers or to any person.

Not only that, but businesses continuing to offer single-use bags will be charged a fee payable to the city. I’m sure that’s convenient for owners.

At first glance this seems like a good idea, right? Austin consumers will no longer contribute to the plague of plastic bags polluting bodies of water, and hunters will no longer be able to suffocate deer and turkey like they’re the protagonist of a low-budget snuff film. But what about folks who want to tote their heads of lettuce and six packs home from H-E-B in a plastic bag? All this bag ban represents is yet another swift fall of the axe blade against choice of the consumer, and consequently, against letting people do the right thing of their own volition.

Instead of purchasing my goods, transporting them to my abode in single-use bags, and promptly dropping said bags in a recycling recepticle like the responsible citizen I am, I’m now forced to modify my behavior to satisfy the concerns of men and women at City Hall. Now I must tote with me reusable bags, which KUT notes in their write up of the situation can harbor E. Coli virus if not washed correctly. Awesome.

I’m all for environmental responsibility. Recycling is good times. Cutting up those plastic rings sodas come with is fun. But I can’t understand why citizens are okay with being told what to care about by city ordinance. Divert public funds for education about why plastic bags will destroy our planet all you want, but don’t force our hands.

A parks worker in Indiana once said, “It is a basic rule of government that you shouldn’t offend people.” There seem to be a lot of things happening in the real world lately that violate that rule.