May 29, 2007 12:22PM 

# I’ll Take the Frying Pan over the Fire 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Via [Ars Technica](http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070528-illinois-raids-welfare-to-pay-for-failed-video-game-violence-legislation.html), here’s a [Quad-Cities Online report](http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=339802) on the state of Illinois using $1 million in taxpayer dollars to fund litigation in support of an unconstitutional ban on video game violence. The money was taken from other budget areas, including public health, welfare, and economic development.

The ideal would be to give the money back to taxpayers. It rightly belongs to them. But given the choice between using the funds to erode free speech rights or using them to support the welfare state, I’ll take the welfare state.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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