A License to Speak

This was originally posted on PoodleRose on July 17, 2013. Comments have not been migrated.

Occupational licensing is presented as a way to protect consumers from unscrupulous and incompetent individuals. Licensing, we are told, will assure consumers that they are dealing with reputable and competent practioners. In the past, licensing was simply a way to limit competition and boost the income of those who are successful in jumping through the hoops established by licensing boards. More recently, it is being used as a club to silence those who dispense information that some find objectionable.

Consider the case of John Rosemond, who has written an advice column since 1976, and has written numerous books on parenting and family issues, including five best-sellers. His advice column appears in about 200 newspapers, including the Lexington Herald-Leader. Following a complaint from a retired psychologist, the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology demanded that Rosemond discontinue his column in the state of Kentucky because Rosemond is not licensed in the state. (He is licensed in North Carolina, where he lives.)

Or consider Steve Cooksey, who has written a blog about his success in overcoming diabetes with the Paleo diet. In 2012, the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition threatened to send him to jail for dispensing nutritional advice without a license.

The proper purpose of government is the protection of individual rights—the freedom of each individual to act on his own judgment in the pursuit of his own values, so long as he respects the mutual rights of others. Whose rights did Rosemond or Cooksey violate by offering information or advice? Anyone reading their respective writing is free to accept or reject that advice.

The states are acting on the premise that individuals should act only in a manner that the state approves. This is true of Rosemond and Cooksey, as well as their readers. The states seek to prevent both writer and reader from acting as he thinks best for his life. And this premise applies to every form of occupational licensing.

For example, most states require plumbers to be licensed. If you wish to hire your retired neighbor to replace a faucet, both of you could run afoul of the law if he does not have the state’s permission to perform such work. Your private, voluntary exchange could be deemed a criminal act by the state.

You may think that it is proper for the state to license certain professions. After all, who wants to discover that his surgeon has never attended medical school? But if the state can dictate who may practice a particular profession, then the state can dictate who may practice any profession. If the state can license who may speak on a particular topic, in principle, the state can license who may speak on any topic.