Monday, August 10, 2009

Political Violence Is the Shape of Things to Come

P J O'Rourke has a famous quote - "Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit." The way you get such power is to convince others to vote for your cause. You don't sell them anything in any real sense, you argue with them until they finally agree with you. In a shoe store, the salesman does his best to find what you want so you will buy it. If there were a political store, the salesman would argue with you until you bought the one thing they offered.

As the government grows in size, a natural consequence will be more arguments. The government now controls the mortgage industry, most of the auto industry and is attempting to devour the medical industry. Shoe stores are going away to be replaced by political stores. The end result will be more things like this, described in greater detail over at our Monastery of Miscellaneous Musings:


In the absence of government intervention, such an altercation would be totally pointless. The SEIU members would have had no reason to beat up Kenneth Gladney. This happens when the government runs the shoe store because arguments are the sales tools. In a private shoe store, value is the sales tool.

Violence, arguments and societal polarization are all natural outgrowths of government expansion.

4 comments:

Dean said...

Thanks for the link, KT.

B-Daddy and I were discussing over the weekend how discouraging it is to hear our leaders, instead of condemning these acts of violence or pleading for civility all around, instead fan the flames of violence by calling people "un-American" and likening them to Nazis.

It's not only discouraging but revolting as well.

K T Cat said...

Dean, you only say that because you're a racist Nazi.

Tim Eisele said...

Boy, first we have a bunch of grumpy old people being accused of being a "mob". Now we've got a bunch of seriously overweight guys in purple shirts trying to pass as thugs. I'm picturing a rumble between these two groups, and all it would need would be Inspector Clouseau in his suit of armor chasing a couple of guys in gorilla suits driving tiny cars to make it complete.

I'm finding it hard to take the hysterics of either side very seriously.

Democrats: "Boo hoo! They're saying mean things to me, mommy! Make them stop!"

Republicans: "Waaahh! He hit me! He started it! Daaaadddddyyyyy!"

Cripes.

Dean said...

Tim,
Unless, of course, your name is Kenneth Gladney and the "He hit me" lands you in the hospital.

I'm not sure what sort
of "Barneys" you've seen in some of these videos, but I would not want to meet some of these guys in a dark alley let alone a townhall meeting.