You can't easily alter the course of a flood, but take a few politicians out of office and you've just reversed the trends. (and I don't mean "take out" as in Navy Seal "take out", though that isn't a bad idea come to think of it.)
Look at the fallout from Blagojevich - he's probably going to take Jesse Jackson Jr. with him, who was being groomed to be Daley's replacement.
I still look to the Heller decision, even with all of its problems, as a victory of the few over the many...
" but take a few politicians out of office and you've just reversed the trends.(and I don't mean "take out" as in Navy Seal "take out", though that isn't a bad idea come to think of it.)"-Less
No, a Navy SEAL take-out is a TERRIBLE idea at this stage. WAY too premature.
Like jack-booted flunkies, they'll just hire more of 'em.
And the politicians who've been "ballistically retired" then become secular martyrs.
Like we need THAT.
Property, man...the key is Property.
Governments are instituted to safeguard and convey privately-owned Property.
Should all the valuable cargo break loose from its' lashings and crash over the side and into the sea, the charterer and the shipowners aren't going to accept that the cook was to blame, see?
Even if he IS...
The point is that those who sponsor the tyrant are impoverished by result of his actions.
Less, try reading "Hamilton's Curse", and then take Roberta's analogy in that light. You might see her point. You might also realize that Heller, while worth lighting up a stoggie for, was just one small firefight in a very long war... douse that butt soldier, and no smoking on guard duty man.
Threats to 1A, 2A, 4A, 5A, a crushing National debt, insane bailout schemes, taxes that WILL rise, inflation that is inevitable, and any number of other threats to real liberty in the next few years cause me a lot of heartburn, and dread for what my children will inherit.
Roberta has it right... how long can you stay afloat?
Kevin, I'm very flattered and hope that I shall live up to your praise!
Less: depends; if you replace them with "more of the same," which is usually what's on offer, what good does it do? If they never repeal any of the flood of laws we're up to our necks in...?
They way things are set up, there is an inherent bias towards trying to fix things by making more laws about more subjects. Changing the men usually doesn't change that. Oh, how I would that it did!
It all comes down to institutional design. So long as it is easier, structurally speaking, for the government to expand its power than to give power up, then it will do so.
Were the institutional structure to change, so would government's behavior.
Ps: Happy day today, as I am now CA legal for firearms ownership, along with my brother. The first weapon comes into the house in 10 days (grr, stupid CA gun laws).
"Threats to 1A, 2A, 4A, 5A, a crushing National debt, insane bailout schemes, taxes that WILL rise, inflation that is inevitable, and any number of other threats to real liberty in the next few years cause me a lot of heartburn, and dread for what my children will inherit."
These threats seem ubiquitous to the human condition, though - whether gov't or anarchy.
...how long can you stay afloat?
Hell, I wonder how we, here in the US, have managed to swim as well as we've done for as long as we have!
if you replace them with "more of the same," which is usually what's on offer
I'm in total agreement. Either way you take a big bite of the shit sandwich... (That is common Chicago-term; crass, yet so descriptive and appropo...) The questions we should be asking and answering should be centered on the question of "How do we get better candidates?" (I'll leave the exact definition of better out here since I think we all think along similar lines...)
My personal take is that group-think is the kiss of death here and that work by individuals or small groups thinking outside the box - much like a good capitalist thinking of newer and better solutions to problems and bringing them to market - is a decent solution.
I understand that Heller wasn't the be-all-end-all, but there will probably never be a "be-all-end-all" here. What it did was set a precedent and open the flood gates... Perhaps someone might do something similar to challenge the US debt-economy and set another precedent?
It's more like a tsunami than a simple rising water flood. They barge in with a SWAT team and say, "We want your boat to keeps us alfloat."
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2008/12/quote-of-day_14.html (8 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Welcome to the Roberta fan club.
I don't agree...
You can't easily alter the course of a flood, but take a few politicians out of office and you've just reversed the trends. (and I don't mean "take out" as in Navy Seal "take out", though that isn't a bad idea come to think of it.)
Look at the fallout from Blagojevich - he's probably going to take Jesse Jackson Jr. with him, who was being groomed to be Daley's replacement.
I still look to the Heller decision, even with all of its problems, as a victory of the few over the many...
" but take a few politicians out of office and you've just reversed the trends.(and I don't mean "take out" as in Navy Seal "take out", though that isn't a bad idea come to think of it.)"-Less
No, a Navy SEAL take-out is a TERRIBLE idea at this stage. WAY too premature.
Like jack-booted flunkies, they'll just hire more of 'em.
And the politicians who've been "ballistically retired" then become secular martyrs.
Like we need THAT.
Property, man...the key is Property.
Governments are instituted to safeguard and convey privately-owned Property.
Should all the valuable cargo break loose from its' lashings and crash over the side and into the sea, the charterer and the shipowners aren't going to accept that the cook was to blame, see?
Even if he IS...
The point is that those who sponsor the tyrant are impoverished by result of his actions.
Less, try reading "Hamilton's Curse", and then take Roberta's analogy in that light. You might see her point. You might also realize that Heller, while worth lighting up a stoggie for, was just one small firefight in a very long war... douse that butt soldier, and no smoking on guard duty man.
Threats to 1A, 2A, 4A, 5A, a crushing National debt, insane bailout schemes, taxes that WILL rise, inflation that is inevitable, and any number of other threats to real liberty in the next few years cause me a lot of heartburn, and dread for what my children will inherit.
Roberta has it right... how long can you stay afloat?
Kevin, I'm very flattered and hope that I shall live up to your praise!
Less: depends; if you replace them with "more of the same," which is usually what's on offer, what good does it do? If they never repeal any of the flood of laws we're up to our necks in...?
They way things are set up, there is an inherent bias towards trying to fix things by making more laws about more subjects. Changing the men usually doesn't change that. Oh, how I would that it did!
It all comes down to institutional design. So long as it is easier, structurally speaking, for the government to expand its power than to give power up, then it will do so.
Were the institutional structure to change, so would government's behavior.
Ps: Happy day today, as I am now CA legal for firearms ownership, along with my brother. The first weapon comes into the house in 10 days (grr, stupid CA gun laws).
"Threats to 1A, 2A, 4A, 5A, a crushing National debt, insane bailout schemes, taxes that WILL rise, inflation that is inevitable, and any number of other threats to real liberty in the next few years cause me a lot of heartburn, and dread for what my children will inherit."
These threats seem ubiquitous to the human condition, though - whether gov't or anarchy.
...how long can you stay afloat?
Hell, I wonder how we, here in the US, have managed to swim as well as we've done for as long as we have!
if you replace them with "more of the same," which is usually what's on offer
I'm in total agreement. Either way you take a big bite of the shit sandwich... (That is common Chicago-term; crass, yet so descriptive and appropo...) The questions we should be asking and answering should be centered on the question of "How do we get better candidates?" (I'll leave the exact definition of better out here since I think we all think along similar lines...)
My personal take is that group-think is the kiss of death here and that work by individuals or small groups thinking outside the box - much like a good capitalist thinking of newer and better solutions to problems and bringing them to market - is a decent solution.
I understand that Heller wasn't the be-all-end-all, but there will probably never be a "be-all-end-all" here. What it did was set a precedent and open the flood gates... Perhaps someone might do something similar to challenge the US debt-economy and set another precedent?
It's more like a tsunami than a simple rising water flood. They barge in with a SWAT team and say, "We want your boat to keeps us alfloat."
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>