The Lawsuit and the Vapors

There was a time when a man who didn’t like a thing declined to buy it. It was considered sufficient protest, and it had the advantage of requiring no press conference.

But progress has been made, and now we solve our troubles by assembling a coalition and writing stern letters to people who process credit cards. Nevada’s Attorney General, Mr. Aaron Ford, has joined such a gathering, where everyone agrees that something needs meddling, but not necessarily what or how.

Their concern is vaping, that modern habit which produces impressive clouds and even more impressive disagreements. According to the authorities, only 41 e-cigarette products have received the federal government’s blessing, which leaves the rest of the marketplace in that suspicious condition known as “mostly illegal.”

Now, rather than chase every enterprising seller across the wide and willing internet, the coalition has taken a more elegant route. They propose to parley with the credit card companies, the quiet coin-changer of modern life, and suggest that perhaps they ought not to carry payments for such transactions.

It is a fine strategy, like when you cannot catch the fish, you force the river to stop flowing.

Mr. Ford has declared these products a danger, especially to children, a statement so reasonable that its examination is rare. Children, after all, have long been the most popular constituency in American politics, as they do not vote, argue, or read the fine print.

One invokes them the way a preacher invokes thunder, frequently and with conviction. There is also the matter of age verification, which many online retailers apparently treat as a polite suggestion rather than a rule.

It is hardly new. The internet has always operated on a system of trust so generous that any 9-year-old with a keyboard may convincingly claim to be 47 and interested in lawn care.

So the coalition wants a meeting. There will be discussions, proposals, and perhaps a solution that involves prohibiting those who break the law from using the systems they are already using to break the law, a plan so circular it could roll downhill by itself.

Now, a skeptical observer might note that we already have laws against selling illegal products, and law enforcement agencies assigned to enforce them, and yet here we are, appealing to Visa and Mastercard to keep an eye on things. It suggests a touching faith in corporations as the last line of moral defense, an idea that would have startled our grandparents and amused our great-grandparents.

Still, the effort will proceed, and more press releases will get handed out, and the vapors, both underage and political, will continue to rise. And if history is any guide, the only thing moving faster than the smoke will be the paperwork.