As one of the only pro-censorship conservatives out of the closet these days, let me say that I think that yesterday’s decision on libraries was a huge win. Yes, yes, there are some legitimate federalism issues that we can argue about, but the basic notion that the government is still capable of healthy censorship has been reaffirmed and that’s good news.

The American Library Association considers it an “unseemly burden” to have to disable the filters for specific patrons who want access to adult material in public libraries. Well, less than a decade ago most libraries didn’t even have internet access. Was it an unseemly burden to have to ask librarians to order medical books or, more likely, hardcore porn from other libraries? Convenience and liberty aren’t the same thing. If it’s a little harder for library patrons to log onto BigButts.com I will sleep just fine.

Jonah Goldberg