A Stitch in Haste

Perhaps someday I'll see my dream of all truthful commercial advertising enjoying full First Amendment protection actually come true.

In the meantime, I'll just be glad this isn't Europe.

An extraordinary row, involving major European and US industries, is blowing up over the European Commission's determination to make it illegal, in three years' time, for any products made in or imported into the EU to carry any reference to non-metric measures. Not only will this cost industries on both sides of the Atlantic billions of dollars and euros, but it is in direct breach of US federal law.

The Commission is so set on stamping out the hated non-metric system that, as of January 1, 2010, it is imposing a total ban on what it calls "supplementary indications" — ie any mention of inches, pounds or other non-metric units in advertising, labelling, catalogues, manuals and the like.

I am on record as an "English only" advocate: I believe that all government activity should, to the maximum extent possible, be conducted exclusively in English. English is our de facto national language, and it is not unreasonable to expect people to use it for official business, or to find translators at their own expense in most circumstances.

But that does not mean that I get uppity when I buy groceries and see labels printed in both English and Spanish (or, just as likely in New York State, English and French). And I especially couldn't care less about dual-units on the packages. Having uniform packaging that can serve markets across borders keeps costs, and therefore pricing, down for all. Everyone wins.

And then there's Europe, where "non-metric hatred" is considered a legitimate government interest and where higher costs (not to mention restricted economy liberty) are considered an acceptable price to pay to accommodate that hatred.

Madness. Sheer madness.

(Via Reason's Brickbats.)

---

Meanwhile, behold "greedy" American capitalism's view of the "correct units":

A Dallas-based pizza chain which caters to the Hispanic community is accepting the Mexican currency at all of its 59 U.S. stores starting on Monday, giving the greenback some unusual competition at the cash register.
...
But against the backdrop of rising anti-Hispanic tensions as America grapples with an estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants, there are some who do not regard it as a harmless marketing gimmick.

"This is America, We speak English and our currency is the U.S. dollar. I will no longer visit your restaurant due to your demonstrated inability to assimilate into the culture of this country," said one irate former customer in an e-mail sent to Pizza Patron on Monday morning.

There's a saying that capitalism doesn't see white, black or brown — only green. And yet so many of the same people who claim to loathe racism also loathe capitalism, while many people who are indeed racists pretend to love capitalism (and therefore try to "protect" it via quotas, tariffs, fences — and perhaps "no peso" laws someday).

Go figure (with metric and currency converters, if necessary).

(Via Liberty Papers.) More thoughts at PoliBlog.