Lynne Kiesling
Welcome to Hit & Run, Instapundit, and Volokh Conspiracy readers, and thanks to those respective parties for their links.
Pro Libertate’s comment from Katharine Mangu-Ward’s post yesterday that linked here wins my prize for the most erudite comment I have seen on our current political environment:
Will no one rid me of this troublesome government?
Hah! He shoots, he scores! Brilliant. If you don’t recognize the reference, you should.
Dear Libertarianist Friends, {A libertarianist is merely one who believes that the default policy, although not necessarily the better one, is one with more freedom of choice that less: a pretty wishy-washy position is this strident world.}
Do you, Lynne, really want some proverbial thugs to rid us of our government? May I suggest that it would quickly be replaced and that the replacement would be much less desirable than the current one with all its many warts. My guess is that even amongst our iconic American types we are more likely to get a Mao-like replacement than, say, George Washington. Of course, maybe we will still have our run of Bismarck-ed-upon luck (smiley face).
Like you I am angry about the ancillary provisions of the revised bailout (although I am not so opposed to a straight asset purchases as opposed to bank recapitalization: get a good, i.e. low, price on the underlying assets and recapitalization will happen and there is less room for quid pro quo arrangements), but those provisions may simply be the cost of having a Western style democracy. And as I noted above, I like said democracies, despite their irrational streaks, much better than the alternatives.
So keep banging on the bailout — I very much like your comments on it even when I am disagreeing — but give the bigger institution a bit of a break because, how shall I say it: How are your M-60 skills? And, sort of as a postscript, while it wasn’t what it was cracked up to be — but what is? — the 1986 tax act really did change a some fundamental things about governing for the better, and cynics like me thought at the time that there was no way it could pass the legislative process. Let’s be kind a just look at Nancy as a slimmed down version of Tip without the nose.
Hm. An interesting analogy. Wouldn’t you say that the original line was uttered by someone who (er, devoutly) wanted the outcome but wasn’t willing to take the heat of ordering it directly?
Yes, I would say that the original line was uttered by someone who (er, devoutly) wanted the outcome but wasn’t willing to take the heat of ordering it directly, but I also wouldn’t stretch the metaphor too far. I guess one of the pros/cons of republican democracy is that we are limited in our ability to rid ourselves of our troublesome government unilaterally.
Facial Warts Pictures
They often make one feel to hide in the closet because of facial warts. gen