SOCIAL SANCTIONS, RANGING FROM SHUNNING TO TAR-AND-FEATHERS, ARE AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOR: All over America, people have put small “give one, take one” book exchanges in front of their homes. Then they were told to tear them down. “Alas, a subset of Americans are determined to regulate every last aspect of community life. Due to selection bias, they are overrepresented among local politicians and bureaucrats. And so they have power, despite their small-mindedness, inflexibility, and lack of common sense so extreme that they’ve taken to cracking down on Little Free Libraries, of all things.”

If doing so becomes painful and unrewarding, they will stop.